Renaissance is one of the most interesting periods in history. It’s an ever-lasting inspiration for a college paper, since students can choose from countless pieces of art, architecture, and literature to analyze.
To understand how a particular point in history was, you’d had to experience it. Publications testify about people and events, but they may be biased by the author’s perspective. As for art, it only tells a visual of a deeper story. That’s why historians, sociologists, architects, and art history experts have to dig deep into the resources to discover the truth.
The Renaissance was a period of profound intellectual, political, cultural, and scientific development. The ideas changed and evolved to take the shape of the region where the movement changed. If you’re writing assignment for 14th-century Florence, it will be much different when compared to a paper about 16th-century Paris.
Suggestions: Good Dissertation Topics on Renaissance
When you’re working on a dissertation, versatility is a good thing. A broad theme enables you to narrow down your interests and conduct research that will provide value to the academic community.
When you have the right topic, you it will be easier to figure out how to write a college paper. Hopefully, these suggestions will inspire you:
- Compare a Renaissance Painting to a Medieval One
This is such a broad topic that can inspire anyone. Choose your favorite Renaissance and Medieval paintings, and compare them in detail. Since this is a dissertation, it gives you space for an in-depth discussions about the social circumstances that gave birth to those paintings. You can write about the inspiration of the painters.
Then, you can progress on discussing how the characteristics of each painting compare to the common characteristics of the period it was created in.
Finally, you’ll compare the two paintings through an eloquent discussion.
- Criticize a Painting that’s Not Well Known
Many academic papers have been written on Mona Lisa, The Creation of Adam, The Vitruvian Man, and other famous pieces of art dating from this period. You need an unusual topic, which would make an average student seek college paper help. You’re not an average student; you’re a PhD candidate and you need a complex topic that not many people have thought of.
Start scouting museums. You can visit some of the most impressive museums through virtual tours. Instead of paying attention to the most popular pieces of art, you can focus on less noticeable items. Choose your favorite one and do your research. You can find out who the previous owners were and write something about those families. You can write about the painter’s life and track down any living relatives. You may find valuable historical documentation when you interview them.
- How Renaissance Food Culture Is Shown on Paintings
This one is fun.
PhD candidates tend to choose “serious” topics that would impress the academic community. That’s okay. But it’s not a rule. Choosing an unusual, fun dissertation topic will make a great impression on the committee. Of course; you need a great topic and you need to discuss it in the most impressive way.
Food was a major theme in Renaissance art. In addition to clothes, jewelry and interior design, painters used food to convey the status of their subjects. Do your research to find out what foods were considered luxury back then. When you see a Dutch painting with lemons or any other kind of fruit that had to be imported, you’re looking at high society.
- How a Particular Painter Was Perceived Throughout the Centuries
Again; it’s important to choose a painter who’s not that popular among the common audience. You can go for Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Paolo Veronese, Filippo Lippi, Matthias Grunewald, or any other painter that an average person doesn’t know, but a PhD candidate masters in.
Choose a painter who was popular in his time, but people rarely know about him nowadays. Explain how his popularity declined over the centuries and why that happened.
If you give this kind of topic to a college student, they would have to rely on an essay writing service to complete it. There aren’t enough online resources to explore, so the research is hard. That’s what makes the topic good for a dissertation. You want to focus on something uncommon, so you’ll provide valuable information to the general public.
The Dissertation Paper Is a Challenge; It Starts With the Topic
When choosing a topic for your dissertation, go for something controversial, interesting, and unusual. Generic themes do not work. You have to narrow them down as much as possible, so you’ll focus on a single aspect that no other scholar has discussed before.
This is the main rule for writing thesis and dissertation papers: provide value to the academic community. It means that you cannot choose a topic that’s already been covered, unless you do it from a completely different angle. Of course; you can rely on the research of other scholars. However, your research has to add value by discussing unique points of view.
The above-listed topics are good for an inspiration. Don’t copy them as they are. Add your own twist to them, and you’ll be ready to start writing an impressive dissertation.
BIO: Ray Campbell is a lover of art, history, and architecture. He works as a full-time blogger while traveling around the world. Ray chooses his destinations based on the museums and archeological sites he can visit.