Education

Ph.D., University of Virginia, 2002

Background

I am particularly interested in the relationships among art, science, economics, society, and politics in the Age of Enlightenment in Europe and elsewhere. It is for this reason that the scope of my research goes beyond that of traditional art history and incorporates other histories, including especially those of medicine and natural philosophy (science in its broadest sense). The interdisciplinary methodology of my research reflects my academic up-bringing, having worked closely with Professor Christopher Johns (Vanderbilt, Art History) and Professor Karen Parshall (U. of Virginia, History and Mathematics).

Specific research interests include: the history of anatomical study in artistic training; the Felix Meritis Maatschappij (Happiness through Merit Society) of Amsterdam; Charles Howard Hodges and Dutch official portraiture in the early 19^th century; Africa and the Middle East in European ‘Orientalist’ paintings; and artistic representations of nascent national identity in 19^th-century Puerto Rico.

Teaching

ARTH 106 Introduction to Art History II: Renaissance to Modern
ARTH 327 Eighteenth-Century European Art
ARTH 330 Nineteenth-Century European Art
ARTH 333 Art, Anatomy, and Medicine since 1700
500/700-level 18th/19th C. seminar topics: Art and Science; Women and the Arts; Art and Ideas; Art and Anatomy; Landscape and National Identity; Art and Politics; Portraiture.

Recent Publications

(ed.) Visualizing the Body in Art, Anatomy, and Medicine since 1800: Models and Modeling (Routledge, 2019).

“Anatomy in the Drawing Room at Felix Meritis in Amsterdam: Skin and Bones, Theory and Practice,” in Graciano, ed. Visualizing the Body in Art, Anatomy and Medicine since 1800: Models and Modeling (Routledge, 2019).

Contributed entries to Anatomy: Exploring the Human Body (Phaidon, 2019):

• Charles Bell, “Muscles of the Face,” from Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting (1806), plate II.
• Jean-Galbert Salvage, Anatomie du gladiateur combatant (1812)
• James Reynolds, “The Principal Variations of Mankind,” from Physical Geography (London, 1851)
• Frankenstein’s Monster, film poster image (1935)
• James Cameron, storyboard sketches, Terminator (c.1984)
• Sydney Parkinson, Maori Chief (c.1780)
• Human anatomy overview essay

“A Dutch Connection: Re-identifying a Portrait Subject at the London National Portrait Gallery,” Oud Holland (131: 3 & 4, 2018): 179-192.                                                                    

Book Review: “The Roles and Influence of Monographic Exhibitions on Art Historical Scholarship,” Journal of Art Historiography (no. 19, December 2018), a 12-page review of Maia Gahtan and Donatella Pegazzano, eds. Monographic Exhibitions and the History of Art (Routledge, 2018).

“Pride, Anger, Humor and Sympathy in the Correspondence of Joseph Wright of Derby,” in Facts and Feelings: Retracing Emotions of Artists, 1600-1800, eds. Katlijne van der Stighelen and Hannelore Magnus (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2015): pp. 40-50.

Exhibiting Outside the Academy, Salon and Biennial, 1775-1999: Alternative Venues for Display (Ashgate, 2015).

“Observation, Imitation and Emulation in An Academy by Lamplight by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97),” British Art Journal (XIV: 3, 2013): pp. 36-41.