Study the art, architecture and decorative arts of Europe from the High Renaissance to the Baroque period. Between 1500 and 1720 the Renaissance spread outwards from Italy, affecting all the arts. This course focuses in depth on developments in Italy andFrance, Germany, the Netherlands and England. Discuss factors which altered the course of art history, including the invention of printing, changing systems of patronage and the challenges posed to the established order by the Reformation and subsequent religious conflicts. Consider the influence of an increasingly prosperous middle class able to buy portraits,genre paintings and consumer goods such as maiolica and the impact of wars and economic policies on the production of art, metalwork and furniture, and discover how trading voyages increased imports of luxury goods and artistic exchange between East and West.