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Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

About Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Dr. Lauren G. Kilroy-Ewbank is the Contributing Editor for Latin American Colonial and Native American/First Nations art. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of California Los Angeles. Much of her research focuses on religious art in New Spain, emotions, women in art, and digital art history. In 2013, she received a Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching at Brooklyn College, CUNY, where she was an Assistant Professor of Art History until 2015. She was a tenured Associate Professor of Art History at Pepperdine University from 2015–2020. Now, she has joined Smarthistory as the Dean of Content and Strategy.

Using photography, Shigemi Uyeda captured the environment of Los Angeles and the growing popularity of oil production in the early 20th century.

Shigemi Uyeda’s Reflections on the Oil Ditch
Getty ...

by Dr. Virginia Heckert and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

The Códice Maya de México is a remarkable testament to the complexity of Maya astronomy.

Códice Maya de México
Getty Conversations

by Dr. Andrew Turner and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Buried in an Eastern Han tomb, this watchtower model represents the ideal world of the tomb occupant's afterlife in miniature.

Tomb model of a watchtower

by Dr. Cortney E. Chaffin and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Not just any seat, the duho is a ceremonial stool reserved for the highest ranking individuals in Taíno society.

Taíno duho

by Dr. Tamara Díaz Calcaño and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Encased in glittery diamond-shaped marble, Palazzo dei Diamanti illustrates the grandeur of Renaissance Ferrara

Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Heather Graham

guidance grid — A painting of a miraculous statue in Caracas, Venezuela also has its original frame.

Juan Pedro López, Our Lady of Guidance

by Dr. Kathryn Santner and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Cormac's Chapel, 1127–34 C.E., sandstone, Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland — Inspired by Italian-style architecture abroad, the king of Munster in Ireland commissioned this Romanesque church in the 12th century

Cormac’s Chapel

by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

This luxurious cross supposedly contained a fragment of the True Cross and was commissioned by the High King of Ireland

The Cross of Cong

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Steven Zucker

"Burning of Idols," drawn by an unidentified Indigenous artist, to accompany Diego Muñoz Camargo, Description of the City and Province of Tlaxcala, c. 1581–84 (Ms. Hunter 242, fol. 242r. ˝ Glasgow University Library, Scotland) — After the Spanish invasions in Mexico, many objects associated with Indigenous religion and knowledge were burned or destroyed.

“Burning of the Idols,” in Diego Muñoz ...

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Jar depicting figure in exotic landscape, c. 1675–1700, tin-glazed earthenware, Puebla, Mexico, 46 cm high (Art Institute of Chicago) — Talavera poblana, the distinct blue-and-white ceramics from Puebla Mexico, have a complex and fascinating history of transpacific and transatlantic connections.

Talavera poblana

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Francisco Martínez, Virgin of Guadalupe with Saints (nun's badge), 18th century, oil and gold leaf on copper with glass and tortoise-shell frame, diameter: 21.27 cm (Denver Art Museum) — Escudos de monjas are an important genre of art made in the viceroyalty of New Spain, one that gives us a glimpse into how nuns fashioned themselves.

Escudos de monjas, or nuns’ badges, in ...

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Frans Post, Landscape with Ruins in Olinda, 1663, oil on panel, 22.9 x 29.2 cm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) — Idealized depictions of sugar plantations and African laborers in Dutch-colonial Brazil were popular in the Dutch art market in the 17th century

Painting Brazil for the Dutch art market, ...

by Dr. Anna C. Knaap and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Miguel de Herrera, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1782, oil on canvas, 125 x 101 cm (Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City) — Taking inspiration from European portraits, this painting shows off the wealth of the sitter in colonial Mexico with her elaborate fashion

Miguel de Herrera, Portrait of a Lady

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Steven Zucker

Saint Patrick's Bell and Shrine; bell: 8th–9th century C.E., iron; shrine: c. 1100 C.E., copper-alloy box, silver gilt, gold, silver, gilt-copper, rock crystal, colored stones, 26.7 x 15.5 cm (National Museum of Ireland, Dublin) — Associated with the founder of Christianity in Ireland, this medieval bell and its ornate shrine is one of the treasures of medieval Ireland

Saint Patrick’s Bell and Shrine

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Steven Zucker

Clonmacnoise, 6th–13th century, County Offaly, Ireland — Clonmacnoise, an important monastery that attracted religious pilgrims and royal patronage, is considered a quintessential example of the early Irish church

Clonmacnoise

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Steven Zucker

Rhod Rothfuss, Yellow Quadrangle, 1955, alkyd and gouache on board, 37 x 33 cm (MoMA) — Rothfuss, an important voice in Latin American modernism, rejects recognizable forms by breaking the frame

Rhod Rothfuss, Yellow Quadrangle

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Beth Harris

Guido Mazzoni, Head of a Man, 1480s, polychrome terracotta, 26 cm high (Galleria Estense, Modena) — Mazzoni, one of the foremost terracotta sculptors of Northern Italy during the Renaissance, incarnates clay with the spirit of a living person

Guido Mazzoni, Head of a Man

by Dr. Heather Graham and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Ex-voto, 1877, paint on tin, 10 x 14 inches (New Mexico State University Art Museum) — This token of private devotion after a near-death experience speaks to how smaller communities in Mexico resourcefully made their own religious images

Cristo de Sacromonte ex-voto

by Dr. Emmanuel Ortega and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Abraham Francen, Apothecary, c. 1657, etching, drypoint, engraving, 16 x 20.9 cm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) — This intimate portrait of Rembrandt's friend and his collection also hints at the city of Amsterdam's wealth and global connections at this time

Rembrandt, Abraham Francen

by Dr. Katherine Harper and Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Cahir Castle, initial construction began in the 12th century, much of its construction dates to the 13th century and later, County Tipperary, Ireland — This quintessential medieval castle features a dry moat, defensive towers, and murder holes

Cahir Castle, Ireland

by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Steven Zucker