Catalonia PAU History of Art study plan

Build a dated timeline of Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic works, writing one line per work on function, context and formal traits.

Define in your own words the structural vocabulary of Romanesque and Gothic architecture (barrel vault, groin vault, rib vault, flying buttress, pointed arch, stained glass), with a drawn sketch for each term.

Compare two Romanesque and two Gothic buildings you choose, listing five formal differences and explaining what each difference makes possible structurally.

Identify the iconographic programmes of at least three Medieval works (e.g. a tympanum, a mosaic, an altarpiece) and state which biblical or theological source each follows.

Summarise the transition from paleochristian basilica to pilgrimage church in a 150-word note.

Analyse four Medieval works using the formal-analysis grid: material, technique, composition, light, colour, proportion, function and patron.

Explain the technical sequence of fresco, mosaic (tessellatum) and stained-glass production, listing the steps in order for each.

Describe how the shift from Byzantine gold-ground mosaics to Gothic stained glass changes the treatment of light and narrative legibility.

Practise writing one full exam-style commentary (about 250 words) on a Gothic work of your choice, without notes, then mark it against the grid.

Order key works of Prehistory, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome on a timeline, noting for each the culture, date range and one defining formal trait.

Distinguish the Egyptian canon of proportion, the Greek contrapposto and the Roman veristic portrait by describing the body treatment in each.

Compare Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders and identify them on three buildings you name from memory.

Explain the Greek-to-Roman shift in sculpture and architecture (idealised body vs portrait realism, temple vs arch-and-vault engineering) in a 200-word note.

Write short commentaries on two works, one Greek and one Roman, using the formal-analysis grid.

Map the spread of Renaissance ideas from Quattrocento Florence to Cinquecento Rome and Venice, naming one key work per centre.

Explain linear perspective, proportion and central-plan design, and identify where each appears in two works you choose.

Contrast High Renaissance balance with Mannerist distortion using two paired works, listing four visible differences.

Write a 250-word timed commentary on a Renaissance painting or sculpture, covering patron, function, technique and meaning.

List the defining features of Baroque (dynamism, chiaroscuro, theatrical light, total artwork) and locate each in two works from different countries.

Distinguish Italian, Flemish, Dutch, Spanish and French Baroque by subject matter, patron and religious or civic function.

Explain tenebrism, quadratura and the oil-on-canvas layering technique, and state the visual effect of each.

Compare Baroque with Rococo on four criteria (subject, palette, scale, interior context) and name one example of each.

Write a 250-word timed commentary on a Baroque work, then a 150-word note on a Rococo interior.

Sequence Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism on a timeline with three representative works per movement.

Explain what each movement reacts against, in one sentence per movement.

Describe the technical changes that enabled Impressionism (tube paint, portable easel, plein-air practice, broken brushwork) and their visual consequences.

Compare two works on the same subject from different movements and explain how treatment, not subject, defines the style.

Write two 200-word commentaries, one Romantic and one Post-Impressionist.

Chart the 20th-century avant-gardes from Fauvism and Cubism through Surrealism and Abstraction, naming two works per movement and one formal innovation each.

Explain Cubism's break with single-point perspective and identify its phases on two works.

Describe the material and technical innovations of the period: collage, assemblage, readymade, photography and industrial materials.

Connect at least three post-1945 tendencies (Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual) to the earlier avant-gardes they extend or reject.

Write one 250-word timed commentary on a 20th-century work and one 150-word note on a contemporary piece.

Consolidate all seven domains into a single master timeline of 40 works, one line each on date, style and defining trait.

Sit two full mock exams under time pressure, covering an unknown work, a commentary and a comparison question.

Correct both mocks against the formal-analysis grid and list your three weakest recurring errors.

Rehearse the grid aloud on five random works until you can produce material, technique, composition, light, colour, function and context in under five minutes each.