Julia Delancey

Biography

Julia DeLancey came to the University of Mary Washington in 2017 after teaching art history at Truman State University for twenty-two years (both campuses are members of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges). She earned her BA in the History of Art (Honors) from the University of Michigan and her PhD, also in the History of Art, from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Her archival research focuses on the history of visual culture in Venice and Florence during the sixteenth century and has been supported by organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Renaissance Society of America/Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento. While previous scholarship has focused on sellers of artists’ materials and especially the Venetian vendecolori, her new project examines the history of disabilities in early modern Venice and in particular mental illnesses. An early conference presentation in that new project (Renaissance Society of America, 2017) examined the use of lapis lazuli as a treatment for melancholy. Her teaching responsibilities include the art history survey and first-year seminars, as well as upper-level courses in Medieval art and other subjects; she has also taught courses on a variety of early modern (Renaissance) and Baroque topics, as well as on art and gender, Modern art, Dada and World War I, and the theory and historiography of art history. She has served as a Councilor for the Council on Undergraduate Research and is a member of the College Art Association, the Italian Art Society, the Renaissance Society of America, and the Sixteenth Century Society.

Research Interest

Early modern (Renaissance) and Baroque topics, as well as on art and gender, Modern art, Dada and World War I, and the theory and historiography of art history.