"Rewriting the Renaissance Art History”
July 3rd, 2021
The recording of this session is available for $10.
In 1993, after the death of the esteemed scholar (and Monuments Man), Frederick Hartt, David Wilkins was commissioned to update Hartt's popular textbook History of Italian Renaissance Art for a fourth edition. With the fifth edition, he became the book's co-author and over the next decades he produced sixth and seventh editions.
In this interview he will discuss how working on these revisions led him to a broader understanding of Italian Renaissance art. Professor Wilkins will be joined on this interview by his wife and collaborator, Ann Thomas Wilkins. They will also share their memories of the Great Flood of Florence of 1966 when they both worked as "mud angels."
Paola’s note: I had the greatest honor to co-curate the exhibition Sisters in Liberty with Ann and David (Ellis Island Museum of Immigration, Oct 2019-Sept 2020).
Dr. David G. Wilkins is Professor Emeritus of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. His publications include Donatello, History of Italian Renaissance Art, and Art Past/Art Present, among many others. He has led tours to Rome, Florence, and other destinations for many years. Dr. Ann Thomas Wilkins taught in the Department of Classics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Her publications include research on the ancient author Sallust, the Tullianum and the Ara Pacis in Rome, and Bernini. Her interests span from ancient Greece and Rome to Mussolini’s Italy and 19th- and 20th-century American architecture.
The Wilkins are Senior Faculty members in the Duquesne University Program in Rome, where they currently teach Modern Art, Architecture, Urban Planning, and Popular Culture in Rome.
