This course begins with the rebirth of the major arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting in the late Middle Ages in Florence, Pisa, and Siena, and then focuses primarily on the art of Florence in the early Renaissance, concluding with a consideration of the High Renaissance and the beginnings of Mannerism.

The majority of the course is taught in the museums and monuments of Florence and its area to exploit fully the possibility of on-site study. There are required day field trips either on Friday or Saturday to Ravenna, Pisa and Lucca, Siena and San Gimignano, and Arezzo, Sansepolcro and Monterchi. In all phases of the course, the art will be related to the historical and cultural context in which it developed and of which it is a reflection.

Among the artists covered are: Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto, Simone Martini, Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Masaccio, Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Alberti, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, and Pontormo.
Course requirements include written midterm and final exam essays, and a term paper.