This fall, Professor Jennifer Nelson will be teaching AH 420/600 The Arts Converge: Italian Renaissance Courts, Monday and Wednesday, 4:00–5:15pm in Elvehjem L140. Sophomore standing required, satisfies humanities breadth and L&S credit. Enroll here. Description: How does influence work among friends, peers, and enemies? How does it translate across differences in professional training and medium? How has art been political beyond (and before) contemporary clich s about memes and manifestos? How can we understand Art with a capital “A” as a byproduct of new forms of wealth? And why was Michelangelo such a hater?The course explores the history of art at Italian Renaissance courts broadly conceived, c. 1400–1580. Though some attention will be given to lesser-known objects and visual culture, the course focuses on major works by famous dead white males. Thus we will also discuss how courtly networks of influence contributed to and complicated gender-policing, misogynist, classist, racist, ableist, Christian-supremacist, and otherwise exclusionary societal norms.