Subject Area Middle and Recent Art History

The material taught in this subject area is the history of European art in the period from 1200-1800, with a particular emphasis on Italian and French art and art theory. Seminars on methodology and on the intellectual history of art history build on and extend the preparatory courses. The teaching is also focused on art in Kassel and its surroundings from the early modern era until the 18^th century, in project seminars, with local museums, and in relation to other regions. 

The focus of research in this subject area is the history of visual art, in particular the painting of the 17^th and 18^th centuries and the history of educational institutions: in Kassel, for instance, of the Collegium Carolinum and the Kunstakademie. Intensive work with archival materials encourages research on artists and the socio-economic conditions of artistic creation in the later 18^th century. In this context, questions of material aesthetics and the preservation of artworks play an important role, since this is also necessary for engaging with questions of artistic forgery and provenance.