Liana Cheney.

Liana Cheney, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita

College
Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
World Languages and Cultures
Email
Liana_Cheney@uml.edu

Expertise

Italian Mannerist Art and  Iconographer; Symbolism in Women's Self-Portraits; Mythology in Pre-Raphaelite Art

Research Interests

Italian Renaissance Art; Italian Mannerism (Giorgio Vasari, Lavinia Fontana, Barbara Longhi)
Renaissance Neoplatonism (Marsilio Ficino)
Women's Art (Self-Portraits)
Pre-Raphaelite Art (Edward Burne-Jones, Evelyn de Morgan, Sydney Muschamp)

Education

Ph.D.: Art History - Italian Renaissance Art and Italian Baroque Art, Boston University
MA; Italian Art Major; Aesthetics (minor); Studio Minor (Ceramics), University of Miami, Florida
BS: Psychology University of Miami, Florida
BA: Philosophy, Art History (minor), University of Miami, Florida

Biosketch

Liana De Girolami Cheney, Ph.D., Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, is president of the Association for Textual Scholarship in Art History, editor in chief of "Paragone: Past and Present, a Journal of Contestations" (BRILL). She is a visiting researcher in Art History at the University of Aldo Moro Bari, Italy, and SIALE, University of Coruña, Spain.
She is an emerita professor of Art History at UMass Lowell, MA.

Selected Awards and Honors

Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018- present

“Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation: The Holy Spirit," in Artibus et Historiae (2011), 1-16.
Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication from SECAC 2013

“Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation: The Holy Spirit," in Artibus et Historiae (2011), 1-16.
Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication from SECAC 

SECAC Book Scholar Award, 2005, for the Self-Portrait by Women Painters
(London: Ashgate Publishers, 2000 and Washington, DC: New Academia 2005)
SECAC Collective Book Research Award, 2004

“Giorgio Vasari’s Studio, Diligenza ed AmorevoleFatica,”
In Reading Vasari, eds. A. Barriualt, et al. (London: Philip Wilson, 2004), 259-77.

Renaissance Society of America, Five Honor Sessions for Academic Accomplishments, 2014
UMASS Lowell Academic Recognition for Online Teaching and Department Initiatives, 2012
South-Central Renaissance Society of America, Scholarly Recognition, 2007
Mediterranean Studies Association, Scholarly Recognition, 2007
CAA Honor Session for Academic Accomplishments, 2006
SECAC Book Scholar Award, 2005
Boston University Outstanding College of Arts and Science Alumnae, 2000

Selected Publications

  • Botticelli's Neoplatonic Images
  • The Paintings of the Casa Vasari;
  • Giorgio Vasari’s Teachers: Sacred and Profane Art;
  • Giorgio Vasari’s Prefaces:  Art and Theory;
  • Giorgio Vasari’s Artistic and Emblematic tic Manifestations
  • Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Magical Paintings;
  • Edward Burne-Jones' Mythical Paintings
  • Edward Burne-Jones’ On Nature
  • Lavinia Fontana's Mythological Paintings; Barbara Longhi of Ravenna;
  • Self-Portraits by Women Painters
  • Religious Architecture of Lowell

Selected Presentations

  • Medieval Institute, Mysterious Symbolism in Art and Literature,  Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 8, 2025 (online)
  • RSA/ATSAH Miracles in Images and Sound, Boston, MA, March 31- April 2, 2025
  • CAA/ATSAH The visible and invisible in secular and religious art, New York, NY February 14-16, 2025.
  • SECAC/ATSAH Giorgio Vasari Celebration, Atlanta, GA, October 23-26, 2024.
  • SCRC/SRAH  Tribute to Giorgio Vasari, 450th anniversary, Savannah, GA, April 4-6, 2024.
  • Beacon Hill Seminar, Boston, MA

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

  • Lowell Council of the Humanities (2000, 2001, 2002)
  • SEED Grant, University of Massachusetts Lowell (1999, 2001, 2002)
  • Professional Development Grant for Instructional Technology for Academic Development, University of Massachusetts System (1996, 1998, 1999, 2001)
  • Healey Endowment Grant (1992, 1993, 1994)
  • Lowell Public Services Grant (1993, 2002)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, Travel to Collection (1987, 1991)
  • American Council of Learned Societies (1990)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminars (1978, 1981, 1989)
  • Folger Institute, Seminar (1988)

Research Currently in Progress

Books under contract:
Giorgio Vasari's Sala degli Elementi, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (Cambridge UK)
Giorgio Vasari's Artists and Genius, ed. (BRILL, Germany)
Giorgio Vasari's Role of the Painter (Reikton, UK)