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a course of study leading to a doctorate. I decided that Union was the right place for me,
and I submitted my application packet just before Pam and I went off to Europe for our first
extended vacation.
***
A month later, on the other side of the ocean, I learned that my application had been ac-
cepted. So far, so good. But once I actually made it to Italy and started looking at paintings
and statues, my center of gravity rapidly began to shift. Exploring ideas on paper was a one
thing; but seeing these same ideas expressed and developed in works of art was another.
Much as the philosophy of the Renaissance had intrigued me, it paled before the brilliance
of the art. Fortunately, it was still very early in the game, and the Union Institute program
offered a flexible framework that made such shifts possible. And, so, I dove headlong into
art history.
It wasn't a completely preposterous thing to do. I had taken some art history classes in col-
lege, and I never missed to an opportunity to visit local art museums on my travels around
the States. I had been a dedicated amateur, but now it was time to get serious. So I began
reading Renaissance art topics of all shapes and sizes to orient myself in this strange new
world that I had wandered into sideways.
A generalist who moves through various fields will often be regarded with suspicion and
disdain by specialists who have staked out a specific area within a particular field. And,
although there is no way that you can ever hope to know all that they do about their corner
of the universe, it's also true that you may be able to see certain things that escape them
completely.
I soon discovered that there was a story told by everyone who had been formally trained in
art history, a dominant narrative about the Renaissance that went something like this:
“After many centuries of superstition and ignorance, people began to wake up and take a
new interest in the world around them. The Renaissance was the period in which Western
man began to cast off the shackles of received religion and to develop the tools of real
knowledge and scientific understanding.”
Every time you listened to a tour guide talk or you read a monograph or a period study,
this was the story within which paintings and painters were carefully situated. For the most
part, it still is. The problem with this conventional tale about the Renaissance is simply that
it isn't true. It's a narrative with a specific agenda that blithely ignores all the facts that
don't fit in with its view of the world, much like the Palestinian story of the Naqba.
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