In Focus II: Reading the Table in Early Modern Europe

This course is a research seminar that will enable students to undertake in-depth study of the objects and sources to be included in the upcoming Focus Project exhibition, “Reading the Table in Early Modern Europe” that will open at BGC in February, 2021. The exhibition will explore a group of handbooks and manuals intended to demonstrate the arts of display on the tables of European elites from the late middle ages through the end of the eighteenth century. Research in the spring term will focus on the social and material practices of carving meats, fish, fowl and fruits, and the creation of linens for presentation on the table. We will also study cutlery, table linens, and other related objects for the exhibition checklist. Students will write several catalogue essays in the course of the semester that may be adapted for exhibition label copy, and will participate in discussions on the design and format of the exhibition. Reading knowledge of one European language (French, German, Spanish or Italian) is recommended. This course is open only to students who took 994. In Focus: Reading the Table in Early Modern Europe in fall 2019. 3 credits. Satisfies the pre-1800 requirement.