Fall 2026

History of Western Art I: From Pyramids to Cathedrals

ARTHIST 201 examines pre-Renaissance arts and cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean, exploring canonical works and their social contexts.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 5

Historical reviews of Thomas Dale: The course requires memorizing approximately 100 works of art and writing essays. While information is provided beforehand, some students found the memorization requirement excessive and the exams difficult to study for.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ARTHIST 201 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Thomas Dale: Thomas Dale is knowledgeable but frequently criticized for long-winded, boring lectures that cause scheduling delays. While some find his approachability and office hours helpful, others find the material memorization tedious and the exams difficult to study for.

THOMAS DALE is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2011, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Spring 2017, Fall 2019, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Thomas Dale: Thomas Dale is knowledgeable but his lectures are frequently described as boring, long-winded, and dull. Students report that success is possible with self-study, though the experience varies from approachable to frustrating.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.09 GPA, 47.8% A/AB (n=69 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.12 GPA, 56.1% A/AB (n=41 letter grades); Spring 2025: 2.98 GPA, 38.7% A/AB (n=31 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Thomas Dale: The course requires memorizing approximately 100 works of art and writing essays. While information is provided beforehand, some students found the memorization requirement excessive and the exams difficult to study for.

Historical reviews of Thomas Dale: Lectures are often considered unnecessary if students read and use online slides, though they help those struggling with homework. Dale is approachable during office hours, but his teaching style can be tedious.

Topics

  • Canonical works from ancient Egypt, Greece, Byzantium, Ireland, Islamic Spain, and medieval Europe
  • Social and historical contexts including imperialism, ethnicity, technology, and religious ritual
  • Human concerns such as death, desire, power, propaganda, and the sacred

Skills

  • Critical visual analysis, contextual interpretation, research methods, historiography, and communication skills

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 4 recent terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.19 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1289 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "5fb5e87a7c67d13bf3a07c5d16dfc47954ada1fcadcb469e8b879d01910ff1c0",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}