Dr. Ellen Hurst earned her PhD at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her research addresses cultural interaction in the early modern world, with a focus on the exchange between northern Italy and Muscovy in the sixteenth century. She has taught art history in the Midwest and on the East Coast, and currently works as a consulting writer, editor, and researcher for several major arts organizations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the US State Department’s Art in Embassies Program.
This palace no longer shimmers with gold, but its harmonious balconies and bright colors still attract the eye.