The Birth of Venus

For the Formal Analysis paper you will be researching a piece of art or an archaeological or architectural site that falls within the time period covered in this class (between 1400-1900 CE). By mid-semester, you will be selecting a piece of art that you would like to focus on. This piece of art will be the focus of your short writing assignments in the later part of the class as well as your longer formal analysis paper.

Research:

Writing this paper will be the opportunity to practice doing art historical research. The goal of your paper is to answer a research question, which you will write as part of one of your short writing assignments. To do this you will be drawing on the vocabulary and understanding of art that you have gained from the class as well as the research you’ve done.

The goal of this paper is to make an argument about the work of art youve chosen, and support it with evidence and research. It is not to tell me everything you know about the work of art, or give an all-encompassing overview.

The paper should use at least 5 scholarly art historical sources. You may use additional sources, like your textbook, that were not included in your preliminary writing assignments, to help fill in additional information, however, please make sure these sources are appropriately cited in your paper, and that they are appropriate, scholarly sources. You should rely on your textbook, or similar types of books to fill in this kind of information if necessary. Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, and other general knowledge/general audience types of sources are not appropriate for this paper. The goal is for you to familiarize yourself with academic research and sources.