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The College of Arts & Sciences
Our department studies areas traditionally central to the discipline such as ancient, medieval and Renaissance art, and the integration of recent fields of theory and research to the study of global visual culture. Students further their understanding of the discipline of art history, its roots, its methodologies, as well as its historical and critical connections with other disciplines.
A collaboration between Cornell and Harvard has continuously excavated the ancient city.
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A new book by Shirley Samuels examines the story behind today’s divided America in literature and art created during and soon after the Civil War.
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Pulse of Art History with Luke Fidler 11/11/2025
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La Pérouse’s expedition, wrecked in 1788, was intended to rival those of British explorer Captain James Cook and to bring the French renown in scientific knowledge. Through the visual materials related to the voyage and its wreck, Kelly Presutti tells a larger story about the enterprise of empire.
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Professor Presutti's ARTH 2600 Takes Field Trip to Buffalo Museums
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Professor Shirley Samuels publishes new book, Haunted by the Civil War
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Harmonia Rosales’s artist lecture to be followed by a conversation with History of Art faculty Verity Platt and Ana Howie
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Atreyee Gupta book talk on her two recently published titles
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Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.
Image caption:
Francisco José de Goya, “Murío la verdad [Truth has died],” Plate 79 of The Disasters of War, 1863. Etching and drypoint, 14.6 x 17.8 cm. Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art, Museum Associates Purchase Fund.