Compare and contrast role of the artist in the Middle Ages with the Renaissance conception of the artist. In your comparison discuss literature, ranging from illuminated manuscripts, Petrarchan sonnets and Dante's The Divine Comedy to Benevenuto Cellini's . In architecture, your discussion should include the builders and sculptors of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals up to the rebuilding of St. Peter's and the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo. In the visual arts, your discussion should range from anonymous medieval artists to Mannerism.

Discuss the combination of Christian faith and humanist values which characterized the Renaissance. How does this combination work in different works of art?

Compare and contrast the visual art and architecture of the Renaissance to that of classical antiquity. Your discussion should include formal comparison, consideration of theme and subject matter and functions of given works of art and architecture.

A Global Look: Many factors contributed to the development of the Renaissance in Italy: strong city-states, a homogeneous religious system, the influence of antiquity, and the prosperity of Europe among them. Scholars of the period suggest that the Renaissance in Italy resulted in large measure from the influx of loot from the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Venetian-led Crusaders and the influence of refugee scholars following its final fall in 1453. In what ways do you think the Italian Renaissance was an indigenous, independent development? In what ways do you think it may reflect Byzantine influences and contacts?