Teaching
Teaching is provided through lectures, seminars, small-group supervisions and course trips to museums, exhibitions and notable buildings.
In your first year, you’ll usually have up to 6 hours of departmental teaching, on-site visits and one supervision each week.
Assessment
The way you’re assessed will vary based on the papers you study. Typically you will be assessed through a mixture of coursework assignments, written examinations and visual analysis tests. You will also have a dissertation in your first and third years.
You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.
Year 1 (Part I)
Your first year will give you a broad introduction to the history, making and meaning of art and architecture.
The first term covers ancient, medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern art and architecture.
The second term focuses on art and architecture from the 18th century onward through to modern and contemporary art.
Examples of topics include:
- contemporary installation and performance art
- Chinese and Islamic ceramics
- medieval manuscript illumination
- Modernity and Coloniality
- current exhibitions in Cambridge (like 'Black Atlantic' at the Fitzwilliam Museum)
Most of the teaching is grouped into the 'Making of Art' and 'Meaning of Art and Architecture' courses.
The 'Making of Art' addresses aspects of how works of art and buildings are made and the wider significance of materials and techniques.
The 'Meaning of Art and Architecture' explores the cultural, religious and political contexts of art and architecture.
You will take 2 final exam papers for each of these courses at the end of the first year, one essay paper and one visual analysis paper.
In addition, you will follow the core 'Objects of Art History' course which focuses on Cambridge's art collections and architectural heritage. This course is taught through site-visits and assessed throughout the year via a coursework portfolio of a sample catalogue entry, exhibition review, and display proposal.
You’ll also complete a 5,000 word dissertation on your choice of a work of art or architecture in or around Cambridge.
Year 2 (Part IIA)
You take one compulsory paper:
- Approaches to the History of Art and Architecture. This covers the history of the discipline and its critical methodologies from antiquity to the present day. The paper is assessed by a single final exam at the end of the year.
You’ll also take 4 option papers (2 per term) drawn from a range of options. These papers focus on a particular artist, subject, or period and relate to the specialisms of faculty in the department. They are assessed by coursework at the end of the term in which they are taught.
Options offered in recent years have included:
- Encountering Jerusalem: Culture and Crusade between East and West, c.1050-1400
- Rubens: Spirit, Ingenuity, Genius
- British Architecture in the Age of Enlightenment, Industry, and Reform
- The Chinese Tradition: Chinese Art and Visual Culture
- Contemporary Latin-American Art
Year 3 (Part IIB)
You take one compulsory paper:
- The Display of Art. This compulsory paper explores the history and theories of display and collecting. The paper is assessed by an exam at the end of the year.
You’ll also take 4 option papers (2 per term) from a range of options. These papers focus on a particular artist, subject, or period and relate to the specialisms of faculty in the department. They are assessed by coursework at the end of the terms in which they are taught.
Options offered in recent years have included:
- Florence 4D: Digital Art History and the Early Modern City
- Paris 1715-1815: The Birth of the Modern Art World
- Painting and Patronage in Imperial Russia
- Representation and Recognition in Contemporary Art
- Global Cinema: Histories and Theories
You’ll also complete a 9,000 word dissertation on a topic of your choice.
For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Department of History of Art website.
Changing course
It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.
In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.
You might also have to:
- take part in an interview
- complete an admissions test
- produce some written work
- achieve a particular grade in your current studies
- do some catch-up work
- start your new course from the beginning
For more information visit the Department website.
You can also apply to change to:
You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.
You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.
