Renaissance Philosophers on Art and Beauty

Course programme

You are welcome to arrive at any time during the morning, but please note that you will only be able to check in to bedrooms after lunch. The reception team are happy to assist in storing your bags.

Sunday

13:00 Lunch
14:30 Does beauty lead to truth? Should art imitate nature? The problem with art in Platonism
16:00 Tea
16:30 Love and beauty in Renaissance Platonism (Ficino and Cattani da Diacceto)
18:30 Dinner
20:00 The Artist as a Philosopher and the Philosopher as Artist (Leonardo da Vinci)
21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion

Monday

07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Constructing beauty: painting and architecture (Leon Battista Alberti)
10:30 Coffee
11:00 Beauty and deformity: Renaissance Physiognomics
12:45 Lunch
14:00 The afterlives of Renaissance Beauty
15:30 Course disperses

No academic qualification is required of applicants, and most courses are suitable for students who are new to the subject.

All teaching is in English (unless a foreign-language course). If your first language is not English, you need to satisfy yourself that you have the required near-native command of the language to get the maximum benefit from studying with ICE.

A booklist, course syllabus and detailed timetable are circulated as far as possible in advance of a course. You will receive these documents by email if you have provided us with your email address; please check your spam folder if you have not received these documents. You can also download material from the course web page.

About Madingley Hall

Madingley Hall itself is an impressive manor house dating back to the mid-16th century. The decoration of the Saloon and the formal Stair Hall was carried out 200 years later, and the whole fabric was renovated with great care around 1900. About four miles from the centre of Cambridge, the Hall stands in several acres of beautifully-maintained gardens and overlooks a landscape which has changed relatively little since it was laid out by Capability Brown. It is just four miles from the centre of Cambridge, and only 60 minutes from London, with excellent links to London airports.

Directions to Madingley Hall

We now have a mini-bus service which runs between the station and Madingley Hall. For the timetable and further information, please see our Lifelong Learning page or contact the reception desk at ICE.