Research and teaching interests
- Classical art and archaeology
- Greek and Roman sculpture
- Roman domestic architecture and decoration
- Pompeii and other Vesuvian sites
- Reception of classical antiquity in the 18th century
Education
Ph.D. (Art History), Boston University, 2006
Dissertation: An Eclectic Locus Artis: The Casa di Octavius Quartio in Pompeii
M.A. (Art History), Boston University, 1999
B.A. (Ancient Studies, Archaeology), Smith College, 1995
Publications
“Investigating a Posthumous Portrait of Augustus in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” Journal of the History of Collections, in press, 2015.
“Heartbreak Hospitium: Elvis Presley’s Graceland Mansion as an Elite Roman Luxury Villa, Classical Receptions Journal 7.3 (2015): 1-36.
With Eve D’Ambra, “Gender in Roman Sculpture,” in Elise Friedland, ed., Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture (Oxford University Press, 2015): 451-467.
Editor: Collectors and the Eclectic: New Approaches to Roman Domestic Decoration, special volume, Arethusa 45.3 (2012).
“Introduction: Collecting the Eclectic,” in Collectors and the Eclectic: New Approaches to Roman Domestic Decoration, special volume, Arethusa 45.3 (2012): 261-282.
“Roman Collecting, Decorating, and Eclectic Practice in the Textual Sources,” in Collectors and the Eclectic: New Approaches to Roman Domestic Decoration, special volume, Arethusa 45.3 (2012): 333-345.
“The Sculpture of the Casa di Octavius Quartio in Pompeii,” in Poehler, E., M. Flohr and K. Cole (eds.), Pompeii: Art, Industry and Infrastructure (Oxbow Books, 2011): 24-40.
“Art, Nature, City, Country and the Problem of Villa Imitation,” Rivista di Studi Pompeiani, XXI (2011): 63-75.
“Roman architecture” and “Roman furniture and household objects,” in The Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World (Facts on File, 2007): I.78-82, II.568-69.
“Kore and Kouros,” The Encyclopedia of Sculpture, Antonia Boström, ed., (Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004): 2.890-892.
Reviews
M. Zarmakoupi, Designing for Luxury on the Bay of Naples: Villas and Landscapes (c. 100 BCE-79 CE) (Oxford University Press 2014). Classical Journal, 2014.09.10.
V. Platt, Facing the Gods: Epiphany and Representation in Graeco-Roman Art, Literature and Religion (Cambridge University Press 2011). Classical Journal, 2012.08.14.
U. Pappalardo, The Splendor of Roman Wall Painting (The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009). Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.10.51.
R. M. Kousser, Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press 2008). Phoenix 64.3-4 (2010), 468-471.
E. de Carolis, Mobile a Pompei ed Ercolano (L'Erma, 2007), Bonner Jahrbücher 208 (2008-2011), 356-357.
Select conference papers and invited lectures
“Luxus on the Mississippi: Graceland Mansion as an Elite Roman Villa." Delivered at the Popular and American Culture Studies Conference (Albuquerque, NM) February 2013
“The Archaeology of Sculpture Collecting in Pompeii and Around the Bay of Naples.” Invited lecture, Vanderbilt University, History of Art Department October 2012
“Against Interpretation 2012: Sociological Approaches to Roman Domestic Decoration.” Delivered at the Annual Meeting of CAMWS (Baton Rouge, LA) April 2012
“The Political Topography of Augustan Rome.” Invited lecture, The Ohio State University, Department of Greek and Latin May 2011
“Searching for Roman Collectors and Decor-ators in Texts and the Archaeological Record.” Delivered at the Annual Meeting of CAMWS (Grand Rapids, MI) April 2011
“The Patron is the Program: Reading Roman Domestic Decor as Autobiography.” Invited lecture, University of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America March 2010
“Public Collections and Private Eclecticism: A New Approach to Roman Domestic Decor.” Delivered as a Getty Villa Research Presentation (Malibu, CA) May 2009
“Living in Hyperreality: Disneyland, Pompeii, and Ancient Museums.” Delivered at the Roman Archaeology Conference, University of Michigan April 2009
“Understanding Eclecticism in the Houses of the Vesuvian Region.” Delivered at the California Classical Association Spring Conference: There’s No Place Like Domus, Stanford University Archaeology Center April 2008
“Art and Nature, City and Country in the Houses of Pompeii.” Invited lecture, The Ohio State University and the Columbus Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America May 2007
“The Sculpture of the Casa di Octavius Quartio at Pompeii.” Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (San Diego, CA) January 2007
“Reconsidering the Authenticity of a Posthumous Portrait of the Emperor Augustus.” Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (Boston, MA) January 2005
Employment
Assistant Professor of Art History, Rhodes College Fall 2010 – Spring 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow in Roman Archaeology, University of Manitoba Fall 2009 – Fall 2010
Postdoctoral Fellow, Getty Research Institute, Getty Villa Fall 2008 – Spring 2009
Visiting Assistant Professor, History of Art, The Ohio State University Fall 2006 – Spring 2008
Lecturer, Art, Sacramento State University Winter 2002 – Spring 2006
Teaching Fellow, Art History, Boston University Fall 1999 – Fall 2000