Prospectus

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Arts and Culture: Art, Architecture and Interior before 1800

Master

The specialisation “Art, Architecture and Interior before 1800” is part of the Master Arts and Culture

You will study visual art and visual culture from the Middle Ages to 1800. Another focus is on architectural history from the perspective of the architects, their designs and the way in which their work is implemented. Central themes are the role of patrons, the public and how the public responds to architecture, the built environment and visual arts.

This specialisation has three key themes that are offered only in Leiden in this configuration:

  • The interaction between Italy, France and the Low Countries from 1500 – 1800 in the visual arts

  • The interaction between the arts, primarily between painting and sculpture and their architectonic context

  • Architecture theory, where thinking about the impact of buildings on the public is key, as in classical rhetoric or the sublime

The structure of the programme is the following:

  • Practices and Debates (5 EC)

  • Two Research Seminars (20 EC) from the specialisation ‘Art and Architecture before 1800’

  • Free Component (10 EC)

  • Thesis Seminar (5 EC)

  • Thesis (20 EC)

Courses

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Obligatory courses
Practices and Debates in Art History (Master) 5
Thesis Seminar Arts and Culture 5
Free Component 10
MA Thesis Arts and Culture 20

Choose two of the following research seminars
Core Course Medieval and Early Modern Studies 10
Gothic Architecture, In and Out of Time 10
European decorative arts: Positioning a discipline and the Rijksmuseum collection 10
Art on Paper 10

Free Component (10 EC)

You can choose any course offered within the MA Arts and Culture, a course on an Arts and Culture subject taught in another MA or an approved Internship. If you choose to take a course on an Arts and Culture subject taught in another MA, you need permission of the Board of Examiners. Suggestions
The Visual and Material Culture of Exchange in Asia and Europe, 1500-1800 10
A Century of Modern Dutch Sculpture in an International Perspective 10
Internship Arts and Culture 10

More info

Course objectives

  • to enable students to acquire academic knowledge, understanding and skills, and train them in the use of scientific methods in the field of Arts and Culture in general, and in particular with regard to the chosen specialisation;

  • to enable students to develop the following academic and professional skills:

  • independent academic reasoning and conduct,

  • the ability to analyse complex problems,

  • academic reporting;

  • to prepare students for an academic career and further education;

  • to prepare students for a career outside academia.

Structure

The structure of the programme is the following:

  • Practices and Debates (5 credits);

  • Two Research Seminars from the chosen specialisation in the master’s programme in Arts and Culture (20 credits);

  • Free Component (10 credits);

  • Thesis Seminar (5 credits);

  • Thesis (20 credits).

Full-time and part-time

The programme consists of 60 EC, to be completed in one year. Part-time students complete the programme in 1,5 years, they will have a course load of 20 EC per semester. Courses are scheduled during office hours.

Requirements for graduation:

Requirements for graduation are:

  • Successful completion of courses, following the structure of the programme (40 EC)

  • Successful completion of MA Thesis (20 EC). If a student does not finish his/her thesis in the course of one academic year, the student has to deliver a new proposal at the board of examiners and will be assigned a new supervisor in the next semester.

Students need to complete at least 45 EC within their field of specialization:

  • 2 Research seminars in field of specialisation (20 EC);

  • Thesis seminar (5 EC);

  • Thesis (20 EC).

Specialisations

The specialisations are:

  • Art, Architecture and Interior before 1800

  • Museums and Collections

  • Contemporary Art in a Global Perspective

Links

Career Preparation

Career Preparation in the Master Arts and Culture

The programme

The curriculum of the MA Arts and Culture is characterised by three main overall perspectives: the study of works of art, the decorative arts and buildings from a global perspective; the focus on historical and contemporary works of art, the decorative arts and architecture in terms of agency and reception; and to study art and the decorative arts as engaged cultural responses to life sciences.
How can you use this knowledge and the skills that you acquire? Which specialisation should you choose within your study programme and why? What skills do you already have, and what further skills do you still want to learn? How do you translate the courses that you choose into something that you’d like to do after graduation?

These questions and more will be discussed at various times during your study programme. You may already have spoken about them with your study coordinator, the Humanities Career Service or other students, or made use of the Leiden University Career Zone.

Many different activities are organised to help you reflect on your own wishes and options, and give you the chance to explore the job market. All these activities are focused on the questions: ‘What can I do?’, ‘What do I want?’ and ‘How do I achieve my goals?’.

Activities

You will be notified via the Faculty website, your study programme website and email about further activities in the area of job market preparation. The following activities will help you to thoroughly explore your options, so we advise you to take careful note of them:

Transferable skills

Future employers are interested not only in the subject-related knowledge that you acquired during your study programme, but also in the ‘transferable skills’. These include cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, reasoning and argumentation and innovation; intrapersonal skills, such as flexibility, initiative, appreciating diversity and metacognition; and interpersonal skills, such as communication, accountability and conflict resolution. In short, they are skills that all professionals need in order to perform well.

It is therefore important that during your study programme you not only acquire as much knowledge as possible about your subject, but also are aware of the skills you have gained and the further skills you still want to learn. The course descriptions in the e-Prospectus of the MA Arts and Culture include, in addition to the courses’ learning objectives, a list of the skills that they aim to develop.
The skills you may encounter in the various courses are:

  • Collaboration

  • Persuasion

  • Research

  • Self-directed learning

  • Creative thinking

Courses of the MA Arts and Culture

Courses of the study programme obviously help to prepare you for the job market. As a study programme, we aim to cover this topic either directly or less directly in each semester. Within the MA Arts and Culture, this takes place within the following courses:

  • The Free Component space (10 EC) allows students to opt for an integrated internship where they gain valuable work experience;

Contact

If you have any questions about career choices, whether in your studies or on the job market, you are welcome to make an appointment with the career adviser of the the Humanities Career Service or with your coordinator of studies, Els Munter