This course explores the story of Western European art from 1300-1600, from late Italian mediaeval artists such as Giotto and Simone Martini to the High Renaissance of Raphael and Michelangelo, and the different context in which Northern artists such as Van Eyck, Dürer and Holbein worked. We will consider how writers, patrons, and institutions shaped their work and continue to influence what we consider 'beautiful' or 'great art' today. The course introduces visual analysis techniques for looking at paintings, sculpture and architecture and talking to others about it. Each session includes small group exercises and everyone makes a short end-of-term presentation. Please make sure you will be able to attend the first session. Visit(s) to the Fitzwilliam will be arranged, if possible. [Previously offered as part of my two-term 'Looking at Art' course.]