A Stay in Florence: An Art History Journey from Leonardo to Michelangelo

Martha Easton is associate professor of art history and program director of museum studies at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she teaches a wide variety of courses ranging from prehistory to the present day. As a current professor and former museum educator for the Met Cloisters in New York, Martha enjoys nothing more than looking at and discussing art and architecture with other people. She earned her PhD from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts with a focus on late antique and medieval art, a minor in Japanese art, and a certificate in curatorial studies (the latter offered jointly with the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Martha has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, and spent six years living and working in Japan between college and graduate school. She has published widely on a variety of topics, including medieval illuminated manuscripts; gender and hagiography; “courtly love” ivories; the collecting of medieval art by museums and private collectors; and medievalism, or the appropriation of the Middle Ages in later periods.

Catherine Scallen is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emerita in the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, where she taught from 1995 to 2022, offering courses on art in France, Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries from 1400 to 1800. Her earlier scholarship focused on the art of the Dutch painter and printmaker Rembrandt van Rijn, including the importance of Italian Renaissance art as a model for his own work. Catherine has recently published on the role of art dealers in shaping major American collections at the turn of the 20th century through promoting the sale of Italian and Dutch paintings. She produced two courses for The Great Courses, Art of the Northern Renaissance and Museum Masterpieces: The National Gallery, London; and has lectured at museums and universities across the United States. A regular faculty participant in CWRU’s Senior Scholars adult education program, Catherine has offered numerous courses that complement special exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art. As a seasoned traveler to western Europe, she has served as a faculty lecturer for groups from Princeton University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and CWRU.

Sheri Shaneyfelt is an art historian of the Italian Renaissance and a professor in Renaissance art at Vanderbilt University, where she is also director of undergraduate and graduate studies for the History of Art and Architecture department and director of the master’s program in liberal arts and science. An award-winning lecturer, Sheri also teaches courses in Northern European Renaissance and baroque art at Vanderbilt. She earned her PhD at Indiana University-Bloomington, with a master’s from Vanderbilt, both in the history of art. Sheri specializes in Central Italian art, particularly that of Umbria and Tuscany. She lived and worked in Italy for long periods of time, teaching for study abroad programs in Perugia and Florence. Her research has been published in top art history journals and in her book Renaissance Painting in Perugia: Perugino, Raphael, and their Circles. A seasoned Smithsonian Journeys expert, Sheri loves leading groups and lecturing on site, and emphasizes the role of art and architecture in context. 

Aneta Georgievska-Shine is a scholar of the Renaissance and the baroque eras, yet as an art historian, her interests range from ancient to contemporary art.  In addition to her affiliation with the University of Maryland, she frequently presents lectures for museums and art institutions in the Washington D.C. area, including the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, and the Smithsonian. Her publications include scholarly books and numerous articles in U.S. and international journals, as well as essays in exhibition catalogs. Her most recent book, Vermeer and the Art of Love, was named one of Christie’s “best art books to look forward to in 2022” and made the prestigious CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles list.

A popular Smithsonian Journeys Expert, Aneta has led numerous journeys to France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, as well as Central and Eastern Europe. In addition to expertise in art history, she brings a deep knowledge of the history, politics, and languages of Central and Eastern Europe. Aneta is a native speaker of Macedonian and has working knowledge of several other European languages.

Ashley Elston is an art historian who specializes in the art and architecture of early modern Europe. After teaching at Berea College as associate professor of art history for over a decade, with particular emphasis on 15th-century Italy and 17th-century Northern Europe, she now manages an art collection based in the US and Italy. She discovered her love of Italian art and culture as an undergraduate working on a degree in history and medieval studies at St. Olaf College when she participated in a study abroad course in Rome. She went on to complete a master’s and PhD in art history at the University of Kansas. A Fulbright grant allowed her to live in Italy while conducting her doctoral research in churches, archives, and museums, and her work has also been supported by competitive grants from the Renaissance Society of America and the Southeastern College Art Conference.

Ashley’s research interests include the history of ritual art, the development of the art market in the Netherlands, and American exhibitions of Italian Renaissance art. She has published in art history journals and academic volumes, and co-edited a book titled Hybridity in Early Modern Art.

Sara N. James combines her passion for art, architecture, archaeology, gardens, and photography with her sense of adventure, love of travel, and enjoyment of people. She specializes in Italian Renaissance art with a particular passion for narrative fresco and stained-glass programs, but over her 30-year teaching career, Sara taught courses in Renaissance (Italian and Northern), Baroque, Greek, Roman, Medieval, and English art and architecture, as well as interdisciplinary honors courses. She is Professor Emerita of Art History at Mary Baldwin University, where she also served as director of the Renaissance Studies Abroad Program, teaching students on site in Italy and Northern Europe. In addition to teaching, she is a respected scholar and author of three books: The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Italy: Art, Devotion, and Liturgy in Orvieto (Cambridge University Press, 2025); Art in England from the Saxons to the Tudors: 600-1600 (Oxbow/Casemate, 2016) ; and Signorelli and Fra Angelico at Orvieto: Liturgy, Poetry and a Vision of the End-time (Ashgate, 2003), as well as numerous chapters, articles, and book reviews. Her speaking engagements include the Renaissance Society of America, the College Art Association, the Chief Executives Organization, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Chrysler Museum. Sara holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Virginia and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She has spent three sabbaticals at the American Academy in Rome and one at the Paul Mellon Centre in London. An avid gardener and garden lover, Sara is a certified Master Gardener as well as a member of the Garden Club of Virginia, which has awarded her for her daffodils, and the Garden Club of America, which has awarded her for her photography.

Lisa Passaglia Bauman is an art historian of the Italian Renaissance and professor of art history at George Mason University in Virginia. A recipient of the university’s Teaching Excellence Award, she is consistently praised for her ability to turn students’ required course in the arts into one of their favorite experiences at the university. She has served as the academic director for George Mason’s semester abroad program in Florence, Italy, and at Oxford University in England, and she currently runs two study abroad programs for the university: Art and Memory in Rome and Florence, a summer program that explores the classical world of ancient Rome and its rebirth in the Renaissance; and From Roman to Parisian: Shaping the Urban Experience in France from Antiquity to the Modern Period, a winter course in urban design.

Before coming to George Mason, Lisa worked in the Department of Museum Education at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she developed and presented gallery walks and public lectures on the permanent collection and special exhibitions.  Her years of lecturing in front of the artwork have informed her teaching as she strives to engage her students more intimately with the object, its history, and its cultural context. 

Dr. Ross King is the bestselling author of books on Italian and French art and history, including Brunelleschi's Dome (2000), Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling (2002), and Leonardo and The Last Supper (2012). His study of the origins of French Impressionism, The Judgment of Paris, was published in 2006, and Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies in 2016. He is the co-author with Anja Grebe of Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes, 1250-1743 (2015), the most comprehensive book ever undertaken on the art of Florence. His current project is a two-volume history of Italy, The Shortest History of Ancient Romeand The Shortest History of Italy, covering some 3,000 years of history from Romulus and Remus to the present.

Ross has also appeared in a number of television documentaries, such as The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (PBS, 2003), Raphael: A Mortal God (BBC, 2004), The Great Cathedral Mystery (Nova, 2014), Florence's Invisible City (BBC, 2016), and, most recently, Ken Burns's Leonardo da Vinci (2024).

Ross serves on the Council of Academic Advisors for Friends of Florence, a fundraising charity ensuring the survival of Florence's art and architectural treasures. He has participated in numerous Friends of Florence tours throughout Italy and Sicily, and is a regular participant in Italian Renaissance seminars at the Aspen Institute, including programs on Giotto, St. Francis, and Dante. He has lectured in many American museums, including the Smithsonian, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Frick Collection, and the National Gallery of Art. When not traveling for work or pleasure, Ross lives near Oxford, England, with his wife Melanie.