<p>Wheaty—I lived in Europe before grad school and had solid skills in Italian and Latin. My French and German where just so-so( I had studied both as an undergrad-2 years each) so I spent a great deal of time in language study my first two years of my MA. It took me 3 1/2 years. I also studied art restoration in Italy for 18 months thru a UNESCO program. Language studies required depend on area of concentration. My area of study required translation abilities in Latin, Italian, German and French.
UCLA still has a great program. Art History and Museum studies are very very very competitive fields and I would not encourage someone to take on grad school as some sort of “practical alternative” to Fine Arts study. If, however, you do decide to pursue this field, be sure and go to one of the top schools where you can be mentored by the best.
I didn’t stay in Art History, I did work in the museum field, but discovered that it was not for me.</p>