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Art history – the study of art from across the world, and from the ancient to the present day – covers virtually every aspect of human history and experience. This is because it looks at works of art not just as objects, but as a way of understanding the world, and the societies in which they were created.

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Art history - the study of art from across the world, and from the ancient to the present day - covers virtually every aspect of human history and experience. This is because it looks at works of art not just as objects, but as a way of understanding the world, and the societies in which they were created.

What were the conscious and unconscious choices that led to an artwork's form and subject matter? What does its content - how people are represented, how religion is shown - tell you about the society in which it was created, and its history? How was it received when it was first put on display, and how has this changed?

By asking these questions, art historians gain a fascinating insight into how people throughout time and across the world lived, thought, felt and understood everything around them. Developing understanding of these challenges helps us make sense of the relationship between people, art and the forces that shape the world we live in today - and provides us with the critical skills to understand the visual world around us.

Why study Art History?

It combines the rigour of a history degree with the visual skills required to interpret works of art. It will help you develop critical skills, to think about art and history from a variety of perspectives, and to present your ideas succinctly and persuasively. These are all key skills that will help you to stand out in today's job market. You will learn to analyse the role art plays in shaping society. Art History will introduce you to world-famous works of art, as well as others that are less well known but equally as fascinating to examine and study. You will get to explore new areas of Art History, and artworks from a variety of time periods, from all around the world, delivered in a range of different forms. If you enjoy reading history, studying literature or languages, looking at art, and are fascinated by the relationship between people, art, and the forces that have shaped the world we live in, then Art History is the subject for you.

"What is art history" - we asked our academics:
Dr Guido Rebecchini, Reader in Sixteenth-Century Southern European Art:
Artworks from the past communicate with us across centuries in a language that is much more mysterious and nuanced than one might first assume. Interrogating them and looking closely at what they represent, as well as at their materials and techniques, enables us to make contact with ideas, rituals, beliefs and practices wholly different from our own. Art historians therefore explore the gulf between the appearance of artworks - as we might see them today in museums, galleries and historical buildings - and the complex ideas behind their production.

It is important to remember that artworks produced in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, in both the East and the West, were not intended to be displayed in museums. Instead, such artworks communicated with their audiences in spaces where rituals and practices that helped to form familial, civic and religious identities, such as palaces, churches and squares. Works of art were often made to mark marriages, births, deaths, and they reflected hopes and ambitions; in fact, they were often thought to have real agency in the world. Artworks were considered to possess holy powers, brought in procession, or stood in for absent people.

Ultimately, as art historians, we look closely and carefully, patiently and inquisitively, and ask questions incessantly. To do so, we analyse, compare and connect a wide range of difference sources and pieces of evidence; primarily the artworks themselves, but also documents, literature and many other traces of the past. By doing so, we locate works of art in the ecosystem in which they were conceived, which helps us to better understand how artworks of the past have shaped the world we live in. For these reasons, art history is a truly interdisciplinary: it demands that we take the vantage point of others, like the anthropologist does; that we see things in historical perspective, as the historian does; and that we consider how ideas related religion, family, gender, race, and politics are implicated in the art of the past. In conclusion, art history is an inquiry into human culture pursued mainly - but not only - by critically looking at the extraordinary images that past generations have left behind.

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Art history - the study of art from across the world, and from the ancient to the present day - covers virtually every aspect of human history and experience. This is because it looks at works of art not just as objects, but as a way of understanding the world, and the societies in which they were created.

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LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452 - 1519)
Who Are The Most Famous Artists in History? | Lahaina Galleries
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous Renaissance artists in the world and is widely recognized as one of the most influential artists of all time. His masterpiece, Mona Lisa, is permanently displayed in the Louvre Museum in France protected behind bulletproof glass. Beyond painting, da Vinci was also a scientist and inventor; he created plenty of drawings of the human body and many modern technologies found in the world today. Simply put, da Vinci was undoubtedly a genius.

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Some of the world famous artists and their paintings.

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Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, also known as Lady Butler, was a British painter who specialized in painting scenes from British military campaigns and battles, including the Crimean War and the Battle of Waterloo.

Roll Call, a painting of the Crimean War, was an instant hit among buyers, and was bought by Queen Elizabeth to be hung in the royal palace. Why is the painting so relevant? It was created by a woman, which was not accepted in the 19th century. Roll Call was one of the best paintings at the Royal Academy; however, she was never officially accepted into the Royal Academy and her masterpiece later fell out of critical favor; this was all because of the simple fact that she was a woman.

In her quiet, dismissive ways, Elizabeth Thompson helped break down barriers for women simply because her talent was too great to be ignored. She was featured as one of the women Malcolm Gladwell calls "Door breakers" in his Podcast titled: The Lady Vanishes.

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MICHELANGELO (1465 - 1564)

Who Are The Most Famous Artists in History? | Lahaina Galleries
Michelangelo is one of the most well-known artists of all time. He was a painter, a sculptor and an architect who also happened to write poetry from time to time. Most know him from his iconic painting of the Sistine Chapel or his creation of one of the greatest frescoes of the Renaissance, The Last Judgment, 20 years later.

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Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665
Johannes Vermeer’s 1665 study of a young woman is startlingly real and startlingly modern, almost as if it were a photograph. This gets into the debate over whether or not Vermeer employed a pre-photographic device called a camera obscura to create the image. Leaving that aside, the sitter is unknown, though it’s been speculated that she might have been Vermeer's maid. He portrays her looking over her shoulder, locking her eyes with the viewer as if attempting to establish an intimate connection across the centuries. Technically speaking, Girl isn’t a portrait, but rather an example of the Dutch genre called a tronie—a headshot meant more as still life of facial features than as an attempt to capture a likeness.

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Starry Night is one of the most recognized pieces of art in the world. It is absolutely everywhere, too. It can be seen on coffee, mugs, t-shirts, towels, magnets, etc. Honestly, it sometimes feels as if the painting’s fame has exceeded that of its creator. It is a magnificent piece of art. That Starry Night resonates with so many people is a testament to how its beauty is timeless and universal.
THE STORY OF STARRY STARRY NIGHT

Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night in 1889 during his stay at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh lived well in the hospital; he was allowed more freedoms than any of the other patients. If attended, he could leave the hospital grounds; he was allowed to paint, read, and withdraw into his own room. He was even given a studio. While he suffered from the occasional relapse into paranoia and fits - officially he had been diagnosed with epileptic fits - it seemed his mental health was recovering.

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Van Gogh Starry Night | Van Gogh Gallery

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View Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night, learn about the features of this masterpiece and find out why this painting is one of the most famous images in the world.