DEP Art is Interdisciplinary Italian Renaissance AIAD

Department of English and Philosophy faculty members MAJ Adam Keller and Prof. Seth Herbst led five cadets on an AIAD that explored the cultural and aesthetic influences of Italian Renaissance art. The cadets spent the first week at USMA where they studied the political, economic, and cultural conditions that led to the Renaissance. Through a series of readings and guided seminar discussions, the cadets traced the development of painting, sculpture, and architecture in the Italian city-states of Florence and Rome, from the late byzantine period (late 12th and early 13th centuries) to the so-called “High Renaissance” of the late 16th century. The group departed for Italy, where they spent four days in Florence and Rome examining the masterpieces of famed Renaissance artists and architects, including Giotto, Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Leonardo da Vinci. The trip culminated with a visit to the Vatican Museum in Rome, where the group toured the Sistine Chapel.