MSc Art History: Collecting and Provenance in an International Context

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Tuition fee
Apply by
Start date
Sep 2025
Sep 2026
Duration
Campus
Mode of study
Fees and deadlines depend on the selected options. Fees and currency conversion are approximate.
Offer response
4 - 6 weeks after your application is submitted
Backlogs accepted
This course accepts backlogs

This masters programme offers an interdisciplinary approach to studying the history of collecting and collections from an international perspective. In particular, it focuses on the trajectory of artefacts through time and space and their historical legacy. Subjects covered include methodological approaches and legal issues relating to provenance and restitution, illegal trafficking of cultural objects, connoisseurship, taste, the patterns of collecting and viewing both private and public, and the politics of display. The programme will move the collective debate beyond the Western tradition.

WHY THIS PROGRAMME

  • This programme is unique to Scotland and the UK as it combines aspects of art history and law and places them in a broad international context.
  • You will learn from world-leading researchers and develop expert knowledge in this specialised area of art history.
  • Glasgow’s civic and university collections are some of the richest and most diverse in Europe and are of international standing. The University’s own Hunterian Museum and Art gallery is the oldest public museum in Scotland and has extensive holdings covering fine art, geology, anatomy and the history of medicine. Furthermore, the facilities at Kelvin Hall support object-based study as a number of courses will include handling sessions of the objects in the collections.
  • Work placement opportunities are offered within the programme on a competitive basis. In addition to Scottish institutions, work placements may take place at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
  • Our research forum provides you with a lively and stimulating introduction to methodological debates within art history. It provides a sense of art history’s own history as well as contemporary concerns and practice, examining the beliefs and values that have informed various forms of historical and visual analysis and enquiry. It is focused around a series of seminars or workshops run by members of staff and visiting academics.

CAREER PROSPECTS

This Masters programme is intended to provide you with a strong foundation from which to embark upon a career in the visual arts, the art market, museums and galleries, and heritage and historic properties.

Graduates have gone on to hold positions in museums and galleries (both public and private) in the UK and have, more broadly, entered the commercial, cultural and heritage sectors in a number of roles. The programme also provides an excellent platform for you to move into PhD studies and an academic career.

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Requirements

The requirements may vary based on your selected study options.





















Modules

  • OBJECT BIOGRAPHY
  • PROVENANCE
  • ARCHAEOLOGICAL THEORY AND INTERPRETATION
  • APPROACHING THE ANCIENT WORLD THROUGH MATERIAL CULTURE
  • COLLECTING AND DISPLAY
  • INTRODUCTION TO MUSEOLOGY
  • INDEPENDENT STUDY
  • WORK PLACEMENT
  • HISTART5123
  • DISSERTATION
  • EXHIBITION CATALOGUE DISSERTATION
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    Use our magical AI system, to check your admission chances for this course.
    Tuition fee
    Apply by
    Start date
    Sep 2025
    Sep 2026
    Duration
    Campus
    Mode of study
    Fees and deadlines depend on the selected options. Fees and currency conversion are approximate.
    Offer response
    4 - 6 weeks after your application is submitted
    Backlogs accepted
    This course accepts backlogs