Based in central London, our unique hands-on and interdisciplinary postgraduate degree investigates applied arts in historic interiors.
Key features
- Interdisciplinary and diverse in approach.
- Hands-on teaching in museums, galleries and auction houses.
- Project-based vocational training.
- Country House Study Week in Buckinghamshire and surrounding counties.
- Study week in Paris.
This unique course offers an exciting opportunity for the study of European decorative arts in historic interiors at postgraduate level. With a strong focus on Britain and France in the global context of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it employs a wide range of disciplinary approaches for students to acquire specialist knowledge of architecture, interiors, furniture, silver, textiles and ceramics, of their modes of design and production, and questions of patronage, collecting and display.
A key element of this unique course is the emphasis on in-gallery teaching and object handling with world-class specialists. It draws on the outstanding collections and curatorial expertise of the nearby Wallace Collection, the V&A South Kensington, and Waddesdon Manor, and of other leading specialists who participate in the teaching; see our dedicated Academic Staff Page.
With a long-standing international reputation, the programme provides vocational and rigorous academic training to prepare graduates for careers in museums, auction houses, historical consulting in interior design, antique dealing, and further study.
Course Structure
The programme runs over four terms: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. We study the development of the decorative arts and the interior in France and Britain in the long eighteenth century. Students then examine the nineteenth century and focus on revivalism, collecting, and the practical and historical problems of re-interpreting eighteenth-century interiors and objects. The historical content is combined with a study skills module, and with the Professional Practice Project and the Waddesdon Files project, which are designed to equip students with experience and research skills applicable to careers in museums and built heritage.
The teaching takes place in central London (Bloomsbury), two days a week over three terms, including compulsory study visits. A typical day of teaching will involve lectures, student-led seminars, and in-gallery teaching. In the Summer term students complete a dissertation under supervision, for submission at the end of the term.
Subject to the agreement of the Programme Director, there are some options for part-time study, one day a week over two years, or by deferral of the dissertation.
UK study visits
There are frequent study visits to collections in and around London. The Country House Study Week is part of the module ‘Architecture, Power and Display: the Town and Country House in Europe’ and explores local country houses such as Stowe, Burghley, Ditchley and Boughton, with their important decorative arts collections. The visits include some handling sessions and the opportunity to meet with curators, conservators and other museum and heritage professionals.
Paris Study Week
A study week in Paris is part of the module ‘Revolution and Revival in the Age of Exhibitions, c. 1830-1900’. Students are granted privileged access to some of the most important public and private interiors and collections from the time of Louis XIV up to the Second Empire, and students meet with curators and archivists.
Practical and vocational skills
Students acquire valuable vocational skills and experience through the Professional Practice Project in the second term, when they plan an exhibition in a museum, or research and present a proposal to restore a historic interior. Alternatively, each year there is a limited number of part-time placements with museums or heritage organisations for high-performing students.
Objects Interpretation Project is a compulsory module that will develop students’ research and presentation skills in the third term. Generously funded by the Rothschild Foundation and drawing on the collections and expertise of curatorial staff at Waddesdon Manor, students will create content for the Waddesdon Files, an open-access digital resource managed by Legend Times/Buckingham University Press.
See also:
Find out more about our History and History of Art courses.