Dr. Sally J. Cornelison

What went on in Renaissance kitchens and how did people consume their meals before forks and individual place settings became common? What meanings did the paintings that decorated the walls of ecclesiastical dining halls—of which Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper is the mo...

Married, Mistress or Mortuary: Women’s Portraits in the Renaissance
Dr. Meghan Callahan

During the Renaissance, upper-class women were commemorated in art three times in their life: when they were about to be married or just after, if they were a particularly valued mistress, or after they died....

Dreams of Arcadia and Victorian Fantasies: Italy in the American Imagination

Dr. Mary Ann Calo

From the earliest days of its existence as an independent nation, Americans interested in art and culture made pilgrimages to Italy. What did they expect to find? How have these American “Italy seeker...