Dr. Sarah K. Kozlowski, Associate Director of The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History, studying a Byzantine micromosaic diptych at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence.
IN THE YEAR SINCE THE ONSET OF THE Covid-19 pandemic, as we have navigated a world transformed, I have learned that the O’Donnell Institute’s satellite research center at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples is not just a physical place. It is also a set of ideas and questions that emerge from shared objects of study and that are brought to life by a community of scholars. In that spirit, scattered though we are at the moment, the work of the Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities continues from afar.
Since we temporarily closed the doors of La Capraia last year, we have mounted a series of digital lectures and research seminars in which scholars affiliated with the Center have shared and discussed their ongoing work. These gatherings around the digital seminar table, across multiple time zones, have been tremendously stimulating and heartening. With the Center’s partner institutions, we continue to develop programs, projects, and collaborations that advance our research mission. And with renewed dedication to our laboratory for art history that has sprung up in the heart of the Bosco, the O’Donnell Institute and Capodimonte are working together to chart the future course of the Center.
We look forward to reconvening in Naples as soon as we can. Until then, I am delighted to share with you our 2019-2020 research report. This second annual overview of our activities will give you an idea of all our accomplishments so far, and how much potential the future holds. For making all our work possible, I am especially grateful to two people we lost this past year, just months apart.
Edith O’Donnell’s bold vision and commitment to direct encounters with works of art continue to animate the Institute founded in her name.
Our Founding Director Rick Brettell, with his endless curiosity and energy, continues to be a wind at our backs. Just days before his death, Rick visited the glorious exhibition of Baroque masterpieces from the Capodimonte at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. I am happy to know that those marvels from Naples were among the last works of art that Rick saw and thought about.
Dr. Sarah K. Kozlowski
Associate Director, The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History, Director, Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities