How was art part of people’s lives before 1800? Why does this matter when studying artworks from this period? To answer these questions, this module surveys an exciting range of artworks drawn from across the world and across history to help you deepen and broaden your art-historical knowledge.
The module is structured into four parts. Together, these trace the lifecycle of an artwork, beginning with the environment where it emerged, then focusing on how it was made, how it was used and, finally, on how it was experienced. As a whole, these four parts will give you a sound understanding of key artworks and related historical and cultural issues. At the core of your learning lies four specially written books covering a range of case studies chosen to illuminate a facet of the relationships between art and life.
The first book, Art and its Environments, shows that artworks both structure and reveal how humans related to their natural environments before 1800. The first chapter is about landscapes, followed by chapters on forests, mountains, snowscapes and islands. You’ll learn about Dutch and Chinese landscape paintings, monumental constructions at Stonehenge and Versailles, and devotional paintings from Venice and Japan. You’ll also study Machu Picchu (Wayna Pikchu), imagery showing Frost Fairs on the Thames in London, illuminated manuscripts from medieval England and map-making in the South Pacific.
The second book, Art in the Making, is about the materials, work, and technologies of art, as well as the distinct social values placed on art-makers. The five chapters cover sculpture, ceramics, paintings, prints, and architecture. You’ll investigate the sixteenth-century Roman sculptor Michelangelo, works in granite by Mexican stone carvers, cave paintings and Byzantine icons, prints on paper from ancient China and eighteenth-century England, ceramic artistry in Italy and China, and the making of vast domed buildings in early modern London and Constantinople (present-day İstanbul).
The third book, Art in Action, explores the many roles played by art once it has left the makers’ hands. Here, the five chapters are devoted to ritual, mobility, collecting, worship and honouring the dead. You’ll study how these activities both generated and deployed artworks, including whole Viking ships and great cathedrals as well as small jewels enmeshed in the trans-Saharan trade routes. You’ll also work on aristocratic art collecting in England and the Ottoman Empire, sculptures made for West African divination rituals and the precious objects used in Inuit and European burial practices.
The final book, Encountering Art, is about what happens when somebody engages with an artwork in person. It shows that all of the bodily senses are vital in this, not just vision. Accordingly, the five chapters explore touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight. You’ll explore ancient Greek ceramics, works by the seventeenth-century Roman painter Caravaggio, the art of Persian gardens and European natural history, urban design in early modern London, sacred spaces in Byzantium and northern Europe, and the various ways that vision was understood prior to the invention of photography.
By studying this module, you'll learn:
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module, and there may be dedicated gallery or site visits. Where possible, recordings of online tutorials will be made available. While these tutorials and gallery or site visits won’t be compulsory for you to complete the module, you’re strongly encouraged to take part.
Course work includes:
You’ll be provided with four printed module books and have access to a module website, which includes:
You can study this module on its own or use the credits you gain towards an Open University qualification.
A237 is a compulsory module in our:
A237 is an option module in our:
Art and life before 1800 starts once a year – in October.
This page describes the module that will start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2035.
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
| Start | End | Register by | England fee |
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| 03 Oct 2026 | 30 Jun 2027 | 10 Sep 2026 | £4,088 |
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If your income is not more than £25,000 or you receive a qualifying benefit, you might be eligible for help with some of these costs after your module has started.
There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.
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Please note: your permanent address/domicile will affect your fee status and, therefore, the fees you are charged and any financial support available to you. The fee information provided here is valid for modules starting before 31 July 2027. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
