Justinne Lake-Jedzinak (History of Art) defends “Reframing Femininity: Collecting Pictures of Early Christian Martyrs in Seicento Naples”

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is delighted to announce that Justinne Lake-Jedzinak (History of Art) has successfully defended her dissertation “Reframing Femininity: Collecting Pictures of Early Christian Martyrs in Seicento Naples.” Justinne defended her dissertation on April 23, 2020. Her advisor was Professor of History of Art David Cast.

“Reframing Femininity” is an art historical study of the production and consumption of early Christian female martyr imagery in seventeenth-century Naples. Justinne's work analyzes the market for pictures virgin martyrs in Naples that was driven towards both aristocrats and non-elites as well as sacred and secular art collectors. These differences in consumption motives allowed collectors to express competing social messages of authority or resistance. View Justinne’s full abstract here for more information:

Justinne has recently accepted a newly created position at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where she works as Coordinator of the Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial Fellowship and Gallery Guides Training in the PMA’s Education Department. Justinne mentors and oversees undergraduate fellows in Mellon-funded two-year curatorial fellowships. Her role also involves professional development and training for the museum’s Gallery Guides.​

Congratulations Justinne!