QUICK LINKS:
Courses & Seminars: Fall, 2008
Survey of Art History 1
Early Renaissance Art in Italy
Art & Theory in Baroque Europe

(Online since 24 October 1995)

A handy list of useful

Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe
Professor, Department of Art History, Sweet Briar College, Virginia, USA

Email: witcombe@sbc.edu
Phone: 434-381-6194
Fax: 434-381-6574
Websites: witcombe.sbc.edu
Podcasts: ewart.sbc.edu

Information on this page valid as of
25 August 2008


RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Art History: Idea & Concept
Italian Renaissance Art
Italian Renaissance Prints
Renaissance Copyright
Vision and Perception
Human Visual Experience
Vision Science
Neuropsychology
Image Studies
European Visual Culture
Accademia di S. Luca
Greek Art
Prehistoric Art
Images of Women
Feminism
Mary Magdalen
Sacred Places
Water
Digital Technology


Upon completion of his A-Level exams at Reading School in England, Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, a British subject, moved to Florence, Italy, where he studied painting for three years at the Accademia di Belle Arti. He then moved to the United States to study art history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he received a B.A. Summa cum Laude in 1973 and an M.A. in art history in 1976. He obtained a Ph.D. in art history from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 1981. He has been a professor of art history at Sweet Briar College in Virginia since 1983. His primary area of research is Italian Renaissance art with a special interest in sixteenth-century Italian prints on which subject he has written several articles and two books.

Print Publishing in Sixteenth-Century Rome: Growth and Expansion, Rivalry and Murder
(London/Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers)
469 pages, 320 illustrations
Forthcoming October 2008
ORDER A COPY THROUGH
Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Michael Shamansky and Blackwell

Copyright in the Renaissance: Prints and the Privilegio in Sixteenth-Century Venice and Rome (Leiden: Brill, 2004)
414 pages, 37 illustrations
PURCHASE A COPY THROUGH
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com
Also available in FULL VIEW
through
Google Book Search

He has also published numerous articles on Renaissance painting and architecture in scholarly journals in Europe and the United States (see below). In addition to work on Italian Renaissance art, he is also writing a series of books that examine issues of vision and perception in the history of European art. Besides using primary sources as well as modern writings on European art, philosophy, science, and history, the books make new and innovative use of current research in the visual sciences in the areas of biology, neuropsychology, and psychophysics. The first book in the series, Eye and Art in Ancient Greece, is completed and under publication consideration. He is currently working on the second book in the series, Eye and Art in Ancient Rome, and preparing to write a introductory book entitled A New History of Art.

He began using digital technology in 1995 and, besides teaching courses using web-based materials, maintains a number of websites, including the popular and top Google-ranked ART HISTORY RESOURCES ON THE WEB. The site was recently selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for inclusion on EDSITEment as "one of the best online resources for education in the humanities."

Through EwArt Productions he is producing a series of podcasts called Art History in Just a Minute (also available through iTunes) which offer fact-filled and entertaining coverage of works of art, artists, and concepts, all "in just a minute." See the articles at Sweet Briar's news site and the Sweet Briar Voice. See also the articles on podcasts in the Orange County Register and USA Today.

See also his short video addressing the question What is a Feminist? (also available on YouTube).

Google

PUBLISHED ARTICLES (selected):


Gregory XIII and the Accademia di S. Luca (forthcoming in a volume of essays on the papacy of Gregory XIII, edited by Ingrid Rowland).

The Chapel of the Courtesan and the Quarrel of the Magdalens. Art Bulletin 84 (2002): 273-292.


Purchase this issue through Amazon.com, or access the article through Find Articles or JStor

Albrecht Dürer's Prodigal Son. Source: Notes in the History of Art 17 (1998): 7-13.

Two Avvisi, Caravaggio, and Giulio Mancini. Source: Notes in the History of Art 12 (1993): 22-29.

Cesare Ripa and the Sala Clementina. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 55 (1992): 277-282. Access this article through JStor

Giovanni Battista Mercati: notizie sui dipinti e sulle incisioni. Bollettino d'Arte 76 (1992): 53-70.

Herrera's Papal Privilegio for the Escorial Prints. Print Quarterly 9 (1992): 177-180.

Christopher Plantin's Papal Privileges: Documents in the Vatican Archives. De Gulden Passer 69 (1991): 133-143.

Some Letters and Some Prints Dedicated to the Medici by Cherubino Alberti. Sixteenth Century Journal 22 (1991): 641-660. Access this article through JStor

Privilegio Papale per la pubblicazione degli statuti dell'Ordine di San Giovanni di Malta (Roma, 1588) / The Privilegio for the Publication of the Statutes of the Order of St. John in Malta (Rome, 1588). Rivista Internazionale del Sovrano Ordine di Malta 23 (1991): 28-38 (in Italian and English).

Vasari's Knighthood, Source: Notes in the History of Art 6 (1991): 9-13.

Cherubino Alberti and the Ownership of Engraved Plates, Print Quarterly 6 (1989): 160-169.

Raffaellino del Colle and Giulio Romano's Holy Family with Saints in S. Maria dell'Anima, Gazette des Beaux-Arts 114 (1989): 51-62.

An Annunciation by Giovanni Battista Cungi. Burlington Magazine 131 (1989): 849-851. Access this article through JStor

A Vasari Assistant: Giovanni Paolo del Colle. Source: Notes in the History of Art 6 (1987): 23-26.

An Illusionistic Oculus by the Alberti Brothers in the Scala Santa. Gazette des Beaux-Arts 110 (1987): 61-72.

Sixtus V and the Scala Santa. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 44 (1985): 168-179. Access this article through JStor

A New Fresco by Cherubino Alberti in the Vatican. Source: Notes in the History of Art 4 (1984): 12-16.

Giuseppe Porta's Frontispiece for Francesco Marcolini's Sorti. Arte Veneta 37 (1983): 170-174.

The Vatican Apartment of Cinzio Aldobrandini: Notes & Documents. Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 19 (1981): 173-189.


Encyclopedia Entries:

Agostino dei Musi
Baviera
Antonio Salamanca
Properzia de' Rossi
Bernardino Passeri

Grove Dictionary of Art
(London: Macmillan, 1996)
Purchase the set through
Amazon.com
Also available through
Oxford Art Online
(subscription only)
All five entries also published in
Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art
(London: Macmillan, 2000) Purchase a copy through
Amazon.com

CONFERENCE PAPERS (selected):


Perception and Visual Culture. Presented in the session "Using, Reusing, and Abusing the Ideals and Forms of the Ancient Past" at the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) conference in Cambridge, England, April 6-10, 2005

Gregory XIII and the Academy of St. Luke in Rome. Presented in the session "Gregory XIII, I: Rome and the Vatican," at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC), Toronto, Canada, October, 2004

Best Sellers? Studying Prints in Sixteenth-Century Italy. Presented in the session "Continuity and Change: The State of Research on Sixteenth-Century Italian Art," at the conference of the College Art Association (CAA), Seattle, February, 2004

Looking at Pictures: Art History and the Perception of Visual Images. Presented in the session "Art, Science and Visual Studies" at the conference "Making Connections," Association of Art Historians (AAH), Oxford, England, March, 2001

Art History and Technology: A Brief History; New Directions. Presented in the session "Using Technology to Teach Art History" at the Annual Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Louisville, Kentucky, October, 2000
(See also the website)

What's the Dilemma? Teaching Art History on the Web. Presented in the Visual Resources Association (VRA) session "Into Hot Water? The Digital Dilemma - Issues and Answers" at the Annual Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Miami Beach, Florida, October, 1998

Mary Magdalen in Renaissance Art. Presented by invitation at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies conference on "Mary Magdalen in History and Legend," University of California at Los Angeles, May, 1997

Cum Privilegio: Copyright in Renaissance. Presented in the session "History, Art, and Copyright" at the conference of the College Art Association (CAA), New York, February, 1997

Venice and Rome: The Print Connection in the Sixteenth Century. Presented in the session "Italian Art 1300-1700: Venice and Rome" at the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Washington, D.C., Fall, 1995. Abstract published in Southeastern College Art Conference Review XIII (1996): 83

The Shifting Identity of Mary Magdalen in the Renaissance. Presented in the session "The Renaissance Woman II" at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC), St. Louis, Missouri, Fall, 1993

Prints and Copyright in 16th Century Italy. Presented at the Alumni Symposium: Art History for the 1990s: Marking Change in the Museum, the Academy, and the Marketplace, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Spring, 1993

Raphael, Giulio Romano, and the Chapel of the Courtesan. Presented in the session "The Italian Renaissance Chapel: Patrons, Programs, and Problems" at the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Memphis, Tenn., Fall, 1991. Abstract published in Southeastern College Art Conference Review XII (1992): 118-119

Vasari's Vita of Marcantonio Raimondi: Some Remarks on Interpretation. Presented at Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Winter Park, Florida, Fall, 1988. Abstract published in Southeastern College Art Conference Review XI (1989): 324-325


SEMINAR PAPERS:

Print Shop Rivalry in Sixteenth-Century Rome. Presented at the Mid-Atlantic Renaissance/Reformation Seminar (MARRS) at Sweet Briar College, Virginia, March 4, 2006

Papal Plans for the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Presented in the Robert H. Smith Seminar on the Accademia di San Luca at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., December 9-10, 2004


COLLOQUIUM:

The Portals of Art History. Colloquium attended by invitation sponsored by the Mellon Foundation at The Sterling and Francine Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, May 11-12, 2007 (for the colloquium and its participants, see Corinne Welger-Barboza's Observatoire Critique)


EDITORIAL BOARD:

Primary Sources On Copyright (1450-1900), Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) Resource Enhancement, Cambridge University, England

OTHER PUBLICATIONS / VIDEOS & PODCASTS:


Sacredness
in
TheoSophia
69 (June 2008): 16-17

official magazine of the
Theosophical Society in New Zealand


Water: Cult & Culture
in
The Perfect Flow
Grohe AG, Feldmühleplatz 15, Düsseldorf, Germany (2008)


Water in Art
in
Magister Botanicus
September (2007): 85-94


Bye bye, slides
Bye bye, carousels
Hello Internet
I think I'm a-gonna cry-y

in
Teaching Art History with New Technologies: Reflections and Case Studies
Edited by Kelly Donahue-Wallace, Laetitia La Follette and Andrea Pappas (Cambridge Scholars Press)



Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe
and Carol Lea Clark

ART: Hits on the Web
(Thomson Learning, 2002)
108 pages
Purchase a copy through
Amazon.com

(earlier editions published in 2001, and 2000)


Seeing Through Art: A Course on Images of Women and Men in Western Art
in
Transformations
6 (1995): 16-38


VIDEOS & PODCASTS:


What is a Feminist?
(also available on YouTube)


  1. Leonardo's Last Supper

  2. Leonardo's Mona Lisa

  3. Dürer's Prodigal Son
    this podcast is also available in
    HIGH DEFINITION


Click HERE for the iTunes connection

beginning with Episode 3
art history in just a minute
is available in HIGH DEFINITION
Click HERE for the iTunes connection

WEBSITES / ONLINE ESSAYS / LECTURE PRESENTATIONS:


Stonehenge


Sacred Places


Venus of Willendorf


Menkaure and His Queen


Minoan Snake Goddess


LECTURE PRESENTATIONS (selected):

Art and culture in Scandinavia and Russia. A series of lectures presented aboard the cruise ship Jewel of the Seas (Royal Caribbean International) sailing from Harwich, England and visiting Tallinn (Estonia); St Petersburg (Russia); Helsinki (Finland); Stockholm (Sweden); Copenhagen (Denmark); and Oslo (Norway), August 3-15, 2008

Art and culture in the Western Mediterranean. A series of lectures presented aboard the cruise ship Sea Princess (Princess Cruises) sailing from Southampton, England, and visiting Cadiz (Spain); Barcelona (Spain); Monte Carlo (Monaco); Livorno (Italy); Civitavecchia (Italy); Alghero (Italy); Palma, Mallorca (Spain); and Gibraltar, August 4-18, 2007

Greek art and culture. A series of lectures presented aboard the cruise ship Legend of the Seas (Royal Caribbean International) sailing from Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy, and visiting Mykonos (Greece); Kusadasi (Turkey); Rhodes (Greece); Limassol (Cyprus); Alexandria (Egypt); Piraeus (Greece); and Naples (Italy), June 12-24, 2007

Jesus and Mary, Leonardo and Dan Brown: A New Look at The Da Vinci Code. Public lecture presented by invitation at The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 31, 2006

Dr. Digital: Teaching Art History in a Wired World. Sweet Briar College Friends of Art lecture given at The National Arts Club, New York City, November, 2000

Teaching on the Web. Invited lecture in the session "Getting Started with Technology in the Classroom" (VFIC and DuPont Faculty Technology Initiative), Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia, June, 2000

Web Images Teaching Research. Invited lecture and workshop at the First Annual Meeting of the Art History Webmasters Association, University of Québec at Montréal, Canada, March, 1998

Conversations with a Cunning Serpent: Eve, Art, and the Image of Woman. Sweet Briar College Friends of Art lecture given at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., October, 1996

Male Fallacies: Images of Men and Masculinity. Keynote lecture, First Annual Sweet Briar Honors Cultural Studies Symposium "Images of Masculinity in Popular Culture," Sweet Briar College, March, 1996

COURSES & SEMINARS
Introductory
Survey of Art History 1
Survey of Art History 2
The Visual Experience
Intermediate
Early Renaissance Art in Italy
High Renaissance & Mannerist Art in Italy
European Art in the Seventeenth Century
Greek Art & Archaeology
Upper Level Seminars
Art and Theory in Renaissance Italy
Art & Theory in Baroque Europe
Leonardo da Vinci
Art History Senior Seminar
Honors Seminars +
Images of Women in Ancient Art
Sacred Places
Da Vinci's Code
What is Art? ...What is an Artist?
The Mystery, Art, & Science of Water