Two Study Days in Renaissance Italy
The last two days have just been reading renaissance art and social history. It's been hard work, but hard work that doesn't make me stressed and anxious, so it's been a welcome change of pace. I'm actually looking forward to meeting with Dr. Gavitt tomorrow to talk about the stack of ten books I somehow covered in three days. Not somehow- I know exactly how. Lots of skimming and book-review reading. Which is too bad, because most (maybe even all?) of these I would have loved to linger over, read deeply, and digest over the space of a few days, rather than a few hours.
It makes me wonder, almost, if I haven't chosen the wrong field. I think "*Sigh, I could switch to early modern... and do renaissance/baroque art and social history with beautiful paintings, sculptures, and a plethora of printed sources..." and it sounds romantic and wonderful until I remember that I'd have to consider the economic and political context, and that I have NO desire after these exams to ever give a shit about Italian political history ever again. Problem solved.
It makes me wonder, almost, if I haven't chosen the wrong field. I think "*Sigh, I could switch to early modern... and do renaissance/baroque art and social history with beautiful paintings, sculptures, and a plethora of printed sources..." and it sounds romantic and wonderful until I remember that I'd have to consider the economic and political context, and that I have NO desire after these exams to ever give a shit about Italian political history ever again. Problem solved.