The Museum of Art was pleased to welcome Professor Nicola Courtright, William McCall Vickery 1957 Professor of the History of Art and Chair of Architectural Studies at Amherst College to campus in late March as Bowdoin’s 2019 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. The PBK Visiting Scholars Program is designed “to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus by making possible an exchange of ideas between the Visiting Scholars and the resident faculty and students.” The PBK Program selects a group of Visiting Scholars each year to travel to college and university campuses around the United States for two-day visits.

While on campus for two days, Professor Courtright spent much of her time engaging with students, faculty, and staff. She delivered a public lecture that aligned her research interests in sixteenth and seventeenth century European art history and representations of French “Queenly authority” with the Museum’s exhibition Among Women. Titled “Imaging Feminine Power in European Art,” Courtright’s lecture explored the expansion of power and authority for women in visual terms, focusing on European art from the past six centuries. In addition, she participated in two art history seminars: Professor Susan Wegner’s ARTH 2240: Mannerism and Visiting Assistant Professor Kathryn Gerry’s ARTH 3350/GSWS 3350: Desire and Difference: Exploring Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Ancient and Medieval Art. During her visit, Among Women curator Ellie Sapat ’20 gave her a tour of her exhibition, which explored portraits of women from the last two centuries, visited Special Collections to view Marie de Médici’s illuminated Book of Hours and getting a preview of the recent loan of the Wyvern Collection, one of the most renowned private collections of medieval and Renaissance art in the world. 

The PBK Visiting Scholars Program is designed to integrate scholars into the academic life on campus and facilitate exchanges of ideas and experience in informal and formal ways. Professor Courtright’s visit to Bowdoin did just that. The BCMA, the Maine PBK Chapter, and the Bowdoin PBK Community are so grateful for the time and expertise she shared while she was on campus.