'Golden Age Iberia in Glasgow' explores the unprecedented flowering of artistic and cultural production in Spain and Portugal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with particular attention to Glasgow's unique resources in this field. Delivered in collaboration with curators and researchers in the area, the course includes "walking seminars" around Pollok House and classes delivered within Special Collections at Glasgow University Library, a combined in situ approach which will facilitate students exploration of the relationship between word and image in Golden Age Iberia.

2 hours weekly in Semester 1 only

None

None

The standard assessments for this course are:

■ 20% Paired presentations of 10 minutes duration for which a team mark is awarded

■ 30% Assignment: A written response to a text or painting (approx 1,500 words)

■ 50% Exam in examining period at the end of Semester 1

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ Individual contribution to paired slideshow with substantial presentation notes as alternative to a paired presentation.

■ There is no alternative to the written assignment, but an extension to the deadline can be offered as reasonable adjustment (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

■ There is no alternative to the exam, but extra time and/or a separate room can be offered as reasonable adjustment (students should follow the usual process for examination adjustments).

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor. 

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ examine the rich flowering of literature and art in the Iberian Peninsula during the Golden Age against the backdrop of developments in European culture and history generally, and in relation to particular circumstances in Spain and Portugal during the Dual Monarchy period in (1580/1640).

■ interrogate the close relationship between text and image in this period, through the study of specific, representative examples of visual arts and text (prose, drama or poetry, Portuguese or Spanish, available in the original language and in translation).

■ enhance the learning experience of Honours students of the college of Arts across the disciplines of Hispanic Studies (Spanish and Portuguese) and History of Art, by embedding the world-renowned Stirling Maxwell collections of Spanish Golden Age art (at Pollok House) and Golden Age literature (at GUL) within their learning experience.

■ promote students' acquisition of generic skills of visual and textual analysis as a means to support progression to study of Art history or Hispanic Studies at Senior Honours level and beyond.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Analyse a representative selection of the major art works of the Iberian Golden Age, and summarise their significance in the broader historical, literary and cultural context in which they were produced.

■ Appropriately use the necessary critical apparatus to make a discriminating response to a range of texts and images from Early Modern Iberia, and an appreciation of the interdependency of text and image during this historical moment.

■ Apply and evaluate appropriate critical approaches to the material under analysis independently, and present the results orally and / or in writing.

■ Argue at length and in detail about a major aspect of this cultural epoch, supporting the argument with evidence from primary sources and with opinions from secondary literature.

■ Identify artists/artworks, recognising styles and contrasting key elements of a crucial period of cultural history.