Virginia Girard

Virginia is a Ph.D. candidate focusing on the art and environment of early modern Europe. Her dissertation recovers localized myths and legends associated with the climate and geology of late medieval Flanders to consider their influence on the emergence of the landscape genre. Her broader research interests include sixteenth-century printmaking and the history of science, 1400-1700. Before pursuing her Ph.D., Virginia completed her M.A. with distinction at the Courtauld Institute of Art and her B.A. (summa cum laude) at Cornell University.

Virginia has presented her research at the Annual Meeting of the Arbeitskreis Niederländische Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, the International Conference for Netherlandic Studies, the Renaissance Society of America Conference, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was recognized as a Riggio Fellow in Art History by Columbia University (2021-22), and her research has received support from the American Association for Netherlandic Studies and the Kress Foundation. 

As a 2023-24 Theodore Rousseau Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Virginia furthered her dissertation research. She is currently a Samuel H. Kress Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study of the Visual Arts (2024-26). 

Conference Talks:

“Finding New Meaning in Early Netherlandish Landscapes.” Interdisciplinary​ ​Conference​ ​for​ ​Netherlandic Studies, June 10, 2023.

“To Open a Mountain: Constructing the Priory of Montagne Sainte-Victoire.” Renaissance Society of America Conference, San Juan, PR, March 9, 2023.

“Reimagining the Post-Reformation Landscape through Drawing.” Symposium on Sixteenth-Century Netherlandish Drawing, Cleveland Museum of Art, November 4, 2022.

“Toward a Cultural Anthropology of Early Netherlandish Painting.” IFA-Frick Symposium, New York, April 8, 2022.