Art History Graduate Student Receives Funding to Conduct Research in Italy

Taylor Glennon, Art History graduate student, was awarded the Matheny Family Graduate Award and a 2018 Art History departmental travel grant for research related to her Master’s thesis. These funds allowed Glennon to travel to Florence and Bologna in November 2018. While in Italy she visited the anatomical models collection, more specifically the anatomical Venuses, at the Museo di Storia Naturale “La Specola” in Florence, and the Museo di Palazzo Poggi and the reconstructed anatomical theater at Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio in Bologna among other museums.

The anatomical Venuses are nearly life-size eighteenth-century wax models displayed in various states of dissection to expose bodily systems notably the female reproductive system. Glennon’s trip to see the models in person will allowed her to form a more nuanced understanding of the connections between the wax models and erudite references to the Renaissance. Her thesis will examine the links between early modern depictions of Venus and the wax models.

Glennon graduated from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA in 2017 with a BA in Art History and minors in Classical Studies and Anthropology. While completing her BA, she worked at the Western Gallery as a preparator intern and outdoor sculpture collection archival intern. Glennon later served as director and curator of the Viking Union Gallery from 2016 to 2017. Under the advisement of Dr. Shelley Zuraw, Glennon will defend her Master’s thesis in spring 2019.