The course of European history was fundamentally altered when the Normans invaded and conquered England in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. For the history of art, too, this clash of cultures had significant repercussions: for centuries English art bore a French imprint, just as French art continuously adapted to an evolving Anglo-Norman aesthetic.

This seminar will travel to Normandy and southern England to study the artistic production in the period immediately before and after the invasion. We will study monuments first-hand to asses the quality and nature of this cultural clash: sculpture and architecture (at Bayeux, Caen, and Jumieges in Normandy and in England at London, Winchester, Canterbury and Battle); castles (at Dover, Caen); illuminated manuscripts (at Rouen, Avranches and London); and of course the greatest testimony to the Norman invasion, the Bayeux Tapestry (all 229 feet of it!).

Permission of the instructor required.