Thomas Willette

Thomas Willette holds a joint appointment in the Department of the History of Art and the Residential College (Arts and Ideas Program). His research focuses on the art and intellectual culture of early modern Europe (c. 1450-1800), particularly Italy and the larger sphere of Italian influence and exchange. His interests include the impact of humanism and the emulation of ancient arts and letters, the uses of style and figurative imagery in visual art, poetry and natural philosophy, and the development of art-historical literature, including lives of artists, theoretical treatises and national histories. He is currently editing a volume of essays on early modern Naples and researching the publication history and reception of Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography.

Thomas Willette is co-director (with Thomas Green, Law School and History Department) of the Premodern Colloquium, a long-standing reading and discussion group for faculty and graduate students in medieval and early modern studies. The Colloquium meets four times each semester to discuss work in progress by area scholars and invited visitors from the U.S. and abroad, in all fields of historical research from late antiquity to the eighteenth century.

Affiliation(s)

• Residential College

Field(s) of Study

• Early Modern Italy and Europe