Often we look at art alone; we have a special encounter with it. Even if we are with other people, each person remains alone. How is the viewer of a work of art the most important person involved in the encounter—more important even than the artist (though dependent on the artist at the same time)?

And more than that, what does the word person mean? Often, a person is seen as a political being, taking one side or another in matters of great contemporary importance; or as a relational being, shaped by the duties and rhythms of daily life. But what if we defined personhood by looking beyond the shifting events in the news cycle (however important those events may be) and toward something more private and profound? What if our engagement with art, focused inward rather than outward, could help us sense our own depth of being?

In 10 lectures, given by Stanford Professor Alexander Nemerov, this course will examine works of great art from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as well as from Romanticism and modernism, to explore the beauty of the individual and to ask of what this beauty consists. The course will remind us that we already possess this beauty, though we may have lost sight of it. Focusing on topics such as dignity, grace, evil, and suffering, the course will explore how our encounters with art are too important to be relegated to "expertise" or even "knowledge." Something more is at stake for each of us.