What power does art have? How can it be used to control, manipulate, entice, and inspire? This module explores the power of art in one of the most dynamic periods of European history and artistic production:  from the royal and papal courts of the seventeenth century, through the Counter-Reformation and the Enlightenment, to the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. Through the module, we will encounter iconic sites (Versailles, the Vatican), analyse the works of major artists (e.g. Caravaggio, Bernini, Gentileschi, Velazquez, Boucher, Reynolds, David, Kauffmann, Vigée-Lebrun) and think about power in a range of different discourses (politics, religion, gender, race, fashion, violence, and the self). This module involves museum visits to look at art in London collections. From the churches of baroque Rome to race relations in Caribbean colonies, what can art tell us about the histories of power in early modern Europe?