Graduate Program in Renaissance Art

Sacrifice of Isaac, Lorenzo Ghiberti

Graduate Program Intro

Application & Examinations
Candidates for this program should have pursued undergraduate studies in cultural history with emphasis on the visual arts and already acquired a working knowledge of the Italian language. They may apply through the regular admissions process of the University’s Graduate School.

Applicants are screened and ranked by the Graduate Committee of the Department of Fine Arts, which forms the advisory committee to the Program. Application deadline is January 1.

In the summer prior to the first fall semester, students receive in the mail an examination to determine their reading proficiency in Italian. Upon arrival in Syracuse, they are given an oral examination in Italian. Students are then placed in classes to reach fluency sufficient for the conduct of scholarly work in Italy. Completion of the program in Florence certifies students as having met the foreign language requirement for the Master of Arts degree in art history.

Prior to beginning classes in the first semester, students also take a qualifying test in art history. The test, which is required of all art history graduate students, includes 60 slide identifications of major monuments of art history and 40 short definitions of technical terms. Students who do not pass the test have the opportunity to take it again at the end of October. Students who do not satisfy these requirements by the end of the first semester may not continue in the Program.