Sample Topics

The following list of selections is intended to help make your library research more successful.  There are more sources on some topics than on others, and this can lead to many unfruitful hours combing the library for information that is not available.  If you wish to write a paper on a topic that you don’t see here, check with me first. Please note that not all of the following topics are appropriate for every course. For an Introduction to Art History, they are all fair game. For RISD First-Year Art History 102, pick from the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman topics. For Egypt and the Aegean, pick only Egyptian or Aegean Topics. For all other courses, stay within the geographical and chronological limits I gave to you with the assignment description..

Prehistoric

The Woman of Willendorf Lascaux Cave Paintings Altamira Cave Paintings Peche-Merle Cave Paintings Housing at Çatalhöyük Jericho Ain-Ghazal Statues Stonehenge Newgrange Passage Tomb

Mesopotamian / Near Eastern

Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu
Sumerian Votive Statues (such as those from Tell Asmar)
Stele of Naramsin
Hammurabi’s Code Stele
Royal Cemeteries of Ur
Portraits of Gudea
Bronze Head of an Akkadian King
Babylon, Ishtar Gate
Persepolis

Egyptian

Narmer Palette
Saqqara, Djoser Complex
Giza Pyramids
Mastaba Tombs and Funerary Practice
Luxor Temple
Karnak Temple
Deir el-Bahri, Hatshepsut Complex
Portraits of Akhenaten and/or Nefertiti
Tutankhamen’s Tomb
Abu Simbel

Aegean Bronze Age

Cycladic Figurines
The Palace of Knossos
Minoan Pottery vs. Mycenaean Pottery
Minoan “Snake Goddess” Figures
Wall Paintings from Thera
Housing at Thera
Mycenae Citadel, Fortifications and Lion Gate
Mycenae, Treasury of Atreus
Mycenae, Grave Circles A and B (Shaft Graves)
Pylos, Palace of Nestor
Tiryns

Greek

Polykleitos-his works and career.
Kouroi
Korai
Nike of Samothrace
Laocoon
The Tyrannicides
Portraits of Alexander the Great

Parthenon Frieze
Olympia Temple of Zeus Sculpture
Attalid Monument for Victory Over the Gauls

Delphi Charioteer
Riace Bronzes<
Zeus of Artemision
Theaters
The Temple of Apollo at Bassai
Aphrodite of Knidos
The Temple of Zeus at Olympia
Parthenon
Propylaia of the Athenian Acropolis
Erechtheion
The Temple of Athena Nike
Treasuries at Delphi
Exekias (career and works)
Euphronios (career and works)
The Hot Pot” (Euphronios crater in MMA, New York—Artwork and scandal)

Etruscan

Vitruvius and Etruscan Temples
Portonaccio Temple, Veii
Cerveteri, Banditaccia Necropolis
Clay Sarcophagus from Cerveteri Portraying a Couple
Tarquinia, Tomb Paintings
Aulus Metellus (l’Arringatore)
Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
Chimera of Arezzo
Francois Tomb, Vulci

Roman

Republican portraits
Prima Porta Augustus
Portraits in the Julio-Claudian period
Colosseum
Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli
Constantinian Basilicas, or the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine
Houses and Apartment Buildings at Pompeii and Ostia
Hadrian’s Wall
Triumphal Arches—Titus, Constantine, Septimius Severus
Mau’s Four Styles at Pompeii and Ostia
Nero’s Domus Aurea

Late Antique

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
Dura-Europos, Housing and Religion
Santa Sabina, Rome
Santa Constanza, Rome
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna
Orthodox Baptistery, Ravenna
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
San Vitale, Ravenna
Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna

Early Medieval

Sutton Hoo Ship Burial
Manuscript Illumination
Aachen, Charlemagne’s Palace
Oseberg Ship Burial
Doors of Bishop Bernward

Romanesque and Norman

Cathedral of St. James, Santiago de Compostela
Church of St. Pierre, Moissac
Church of Saint-Etienne, Caen
Bayeux Tapestry
Cathedral Complex, Pisa

Gothic

Abbot Suger and Saint-Denis
Chartres Cathedral
Amiens Cathedral
Notre-Dame, Paris
Reims Cathedral
Siena Cathedral
Florence Baptistery Doors by Pisano
Maesta Altarpiece by Duccio
Allegory of Good and Bad Government, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Siena
Arena Chapel, by Giotto, Padua