Faculty of Arts School of Culture & Communication

Professor Jaynie Anderson

Professor, Art History

Qualifications

FAHA, CIHA, MA OXON. PhD (Bryn Mawr)

Biography

Jaynie Anderson graduated in History and Fine Arts from the University of Melbourne, and proceeded to a doctorate at Bryn Mawr College, where her thesis  was on Giorgione. In 1970 she became the first woman Rhodes Fellow at the University of Oxford, where she remained until 1991 teaching art history. In 1997 she was appointed Herald Chair of Fine Arts and Head of the School of Art History, Cinema, Classics and Archaeology, in charge of creating a newly formed school in the Arts Faculty of the University of Melbourne. She remains committed to the pursuit of excellence in Renaissance scholarship. Jaynie hosted the 32nd international conference of art historians (CIHA) on the subject of Crossing Cultures, Conflict, Migration and Convergence, at the University of Melbourne, 13-18 January 2008. She has received grants from the British Academy (1981-82), the Leverhulme Trust (1993-4), and the Australian Research Council (1999-2003). She has been a visiting Scholar at the John Paul Getty Museum (1986), at the Centre for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery, Washington (1991), at the Harvard Centre for Renaissance Studies, I Tatti, Florence (2001, and 2003) and at the Institut national de l'histoire de l'art, Paris (2003). Jaynie has been elected President of the International Committee for the History of Art from 2008 to 2012.

Research strengths

In her formation as a ascholar Jaynie Anderson developed a passionate commitment to the study of Venetian painting of the early modern period. She has written books on Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and scholarly articles on Tintoretto and Veronese. Her research interests encompass many areas of scholarship on the Italian Renaissance. Her expertise includes the history of restoration, notably in nineteenth century England and Italy. She has written four books on Giovanni Morelli and the early history of connoisseurship. She is interested in all areas of Italian art. As an Australian she has written on Australian art, especially Sidney Nolan.

Current projects

The Virtual Print Room

Type of Project: An online course,  107/526.

The Virtual Print Room is a novel course designed to give students the experience of creating an exhibition and accompanying catalogue on-line. The exhibition will be about the curatorship of prints, their interpretation, and their techniques. The data bank of images is taken principally from European Renaissance and Baroque prints, as well as Australian examples. Access to the course is through the University's Webraft portal that authenticates enrolled students. Students will have the opportunity to work in a situation that resembles a curator working with a director devising the conception of an exhibition, and its realisation. The Virtual Print Room makes the outstanding collection of Renaissance and Baroque Prints in theBaillieu Library accessible to students for teaching on-line for the first time.

Recent grants and awards (from 2002)

ARC Small 2002

Tiepolo in Australia. The Banquet of Cleopatra and Mark Antony in focus.

To write a monograph on the most celebrated Old Master painting in Australia.

ARC Large 1999-2002

Australia's Patrimony exemplified by the History of the multicultural Collections at the National Gallery of Victoria (1850-2000)

This project seeks to provide a new cultural and political history of the National Gallery of Victoria from its origins until today.The collections at the Gallery range from indigenous art to European painting, from Australian to Asian art. We intend to examine the vast archival sources for the collection, to examine the phenomenon of multiculturalism in collecting, to examine philanthropy within a Melburnian and an international context, and to examine national identity in relation to the artistic patrimony of Australia.The aim of the project is to define the unique nature of the collection in relation to the society that nurtured it.

ARC Discovery Project 2003-2005

Beyond the Madonna Painter: reassessing the liefe works and reception of Giovanni Bellini

I aim to write a critical cultural history of Venetian art in Giovanni Bellini's  lifetime (1433  to 1516), focusing upon Bellini's intellectual position. In the most recent decade archival discoveries, containing new revelations about Bellini's patrons, his intellectual friendships with learned humanists, his probable illegitimacy, his certain homosexuality and his painting techniques, prompt a new investigation of how biography has infused representation in art. Multiple outcomes include a book, with the same title, and an exhibition at the National Gallery, Washington, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienne, in 2006-2007, where Bellini's œuvre will be seen in context.

Recent presentations (from 2002)

Convenor of International Conferences

Presentations at International Conferences

Curatorial Work

One of five curators of the exhibition, Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting, which will open at  the National Gallery of Art, Washington, 18 June 2006 to 17 September 2006;  at the Kunsdthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 7 October 2006 until 7 January 2007.

Selected publications

Books

Edited books

Book chapters (from 2002)

Journal articles (from 2002)

Other publications (from 2002)

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