Skip to Main Content

 Admission is always freeOpen today: 10:00  to 5:00  Directions             Play Artle            

                  -  Visit                      - Visit
                    - Getting Here
                    - Accessibility
                    - Tours, Guides & Maps
                    - Food & Drink
                    - Gallery Shops
                    - Visitor Policies 
                  -  Collection                      - Collection
                    - Highlights
                    - Search the Collection
                    - Artists Search
                    - Acquisition Highlights
                    - Stories 
                  -  Exhibitions                      - Exhibitions
                    - Current
                    - Special Installations
                    - Upcoming
                    - On Tour
                    - Past 
                  -  Calendar                      - Calendar
                    - Films
                    - Performances
                    - Talks
                    - Guided Tours
                    - After Hours
                    - Fun for Kids
                    - Festivals
                    - Workshops 
                  -  Learn                      - Learn
                    - Teachers
                    - Families
                    - Teens
                    - Adults
                    - Learning Resources
                    - Music Programs
                    - Film Programs 
                  -  Conservation                      - Conservation
                    - Projects
                    - Publications
                    - Resources 
                  -  Research                      - Research
                    - The Center
                    - Publications
                    - Make an Appointment
                    - Archives
                    - Library
                    - NGA Online Editions 
                  -  Support                      - Support
                    - Donate Now
                    - National Membership
                    - Circle Membership
                    - Leadership Groups
                    - Planned Giving
                    - Major Giving
                    - Gifts of Art 
                  -  Shop                      - Shop
                    - Books
                    - Jewelry
                    - Apparel & Accessories
                    - Kids
                    - NGA Custom Prints 
                  -  Play Artle

Home>Research>Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts>Meetings>A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

About Fellowships

Senior Fellowships

Visiting Senior Fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Center/YCBA Postdoctoral Fellowships

Predoctoral Dissertation Fellowships

Center Members

Members’ Presentations

Former Members

Members’ Research Reports, 2011–2018

About Center Meetings

Recent & Upcoming Meetings

A.  W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Wyeth Foundation for American Art Programs

Sydney J. Freedberg Lectures on Italian Art

Research at the Center

The Index of American Design

 

The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590–1635

Members’ Research Reports, 2011–2018

About the Center Publications

Recent & Upcoming Publications

Reflections on the Collection: The Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professors at the National Gallery of Art

Studies in the History of Art

Seminar Papers

*Center Report*

From the *Bulletin*

Research Publications

Special Publications

National Gallery of Art Shop

# A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts

Inaugurated in 1949, the Mellon Lectures is the longest-running lecture series at the National Gallery of Art.

Sir Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley, *Andrew W. Mellon*, 1933, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, 1941.9.1

The series was founded “to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the Fine Arts.” Lecturers have included art historians, artists, archaeologists, poets, and musicologists.

The Center partners with Princeton University Press to produce a publication from each series. Beginning in August 2023, 46 Mellon Lectures published between 1953 and 2022 will be available in print and digital formats, including 26 titles that were long out of print. Learn more about this initiative.

**2024**Chasing That Which Is Not Me / Chasing That Which Is MeAnna Deavere Smith, Writer/Actress

The four-part lecture series will take place in the National Gallery’s East Building Auditorium every Sunday from April 28 to May 19, 2024.

Learn more and register

**2023**Vital Signs: The Visual Cultures of Maya WritingStephen D. Houston, Brown University

Watch or listen

**2022**Colorstruck! Painting, Pigment, AffectRichard J. Powell, Duke University

Watch or listen

2021Contact: Art and the Pull of PrintJennifer L. Roberts, Harvard University

Watch or listen

ForthcomingTransparence and Ambiguity: The Modern Space of AxonometryYve-Alain Bois, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ

Press releaseDates to be announced.

2019End as Beginning: Chinese Art and Dynastic Time**Wu Hung, University of Chicago**

Watch Listen

Published as *Chinese Art and Dynastic Time* (2022)

2018Positive Barbarism: Brutal Aesthetics in the Postwar Period**Hal Foster, Princeton University**

WatchListen

Published as *Brutal Aesthetics: Dubuffet, Bataille, Jorn, Paolozzi, Oldenburg* (2020) 

2017The Forest: America in the 1830s**Alexander Nemerov, Stanford University**Watch Listen

Published as *The Forest: A Fable of America in the 1830s *(2023)

2016The Thief Who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Chola Bronzes from South India, c. 855‒1280**Vidya Dehejia, Columbia University**

WatchListen

Published as *The Thief Who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855‒1280 (*2021)

2015Restoration as Event and Idea: Art in Europe, 1814‒1820Thomas Crow, New York University, Institute of Fine Arts

WatchListen

Published as *Restoration: The Fall of Napoleon in the Course of European Art, 1812‒1820 (*2018)

2014Past Belief: Visions of Early Christianity in Renaissance and Reformation EuropeAnthony Grafton, Princeton University

Watch Listen

2013Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750**Barry Bergdoll, The Museum of Modern Art/Columbia University**

Listen

2012Chinese Painting and Its Audiences**Craig Clunas, University of Oxford**

Published as *Chinese Painting and Its Audiences* (2017)

2011The Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from Ancient Rome to Salvador Dalí**Mary Beard, University of Cambridge**

Watch

Published as *Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern *(2021)

2010Art and Representation in the Ancient New World**Mary Miller, Yale University**

Listen

2009Picasso and TruthT. J. Clark, University of California, Berkeley

Listen

Published as *Picasso and Truth: From Cubism to Guernica* (2013)

2008Bosch and Bruegel: Parallel Worlds?Joseph Leo Koerner, Harvard University

Published as *Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life *(2016)

2007Last Looks, Last Books: The Binocular Poetry of DeathHelen Vendler, Harvard University

Listen

Published as *Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill** *(2010)

2006Really Old Masters: Age, Infirmity, and ReinventionSimon Schama, Columbia University

2005“Great Work”: Terms of Aesthetic Experience in Ancient MesopotamiaIrene J. Winter, Harvard University

2004More Than Meets the EyeIrving Lavin, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ

2003Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since PollockKirk Varnedoe, Institute for Advanced Study

Listen

Published as *Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock* (2006); new ebook edition (2023)

2002The Moment of Caravaggio****Michael Fried, The Johns Hopkins UniversityListen

Published as *The Moment of Caravaggio* (2010)

2001Giorgione and Caravaggio: Art as RevolutionSalvatore Settis, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa

2000The Quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns in the Arts, 1600–1715Marc Fumaroli, Collège de France

1999TransitionsCarlo Bertelli, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Accademia di Architettura

1998Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese ArtLothar Ledderose, Universität Heidelberg

Published as *Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art* (2000); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1997Paths to the AbsoluteJohn Golding, Painter

Published as *Paths to the Absolute: Mondrian, Malevich, Kandinsky, Pollock, Newman, Rothko, and Still* (2000); new ebook edition (2023)

1996From Drawing to Painting: Poussin, Watteau, Fragonard, David, Ingres Pierre M. Rosenberg, Musée du Louvre

Published as *From Drawing to Painting: Poussin, Watteau, Fragonard, David, and Ingres (*2000); new ebook edition (2023)

1995Contemporary Art and the Pale of HistoryArthur C. Danto, Columbia University

Published as *After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History *(1997); first Princeton Classics edition, with a new foreword by Lydia Goehr (2014)

1994Kings and Connoisseurs: Collecting Art in Seventeenth-Century EuropeJonathan Brown, New York University, Institute of Fine Arts

Published as *Kings and Connoisseurs: Collecting Art in Seventeenth-Century Europe* (1995); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1993The Diffusion of Classical Art in AntiquityJohn Boardman, University of Oxford, Lincoln College

Published as *The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity* (1994); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1992The Laws of the Poetic ArtAnthony Hecht, Georgetown University

Published as *On the Laws of the Poetic Art* (1995); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1991Changing Faces: Art and Physiognomy through the AgesWillibald Sauerländer, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte

**1990**Gold, Silver, and Bronze: Metal Sculpture of the Roman BaroqueJennifer Montagu, Warburg Institute

Published as *Gold, Silver, and Bronze: Metal Sculpture of the Roman Baroque* (1996); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1989Intermediary Demons: Toward a Theory of OrnamentOleg Grabar, Harvard University

Published as *The Mediation of Ornament* (1992); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1988Art and the Spectator in the Italian RenaissanceJohn Shearman, Princeton University

Published as *Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance* (1992); Princeton Legacy Library (2019); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1987Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for IconsJaroslav Pelikan

Published as *Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for Icons* (1990); new ebook edition (2023)

1986Confessions of a Twentieth‐Century ComposerLukas Foss, Brooklyn Philharmonic

1985The Villa in HistoryJames S. Ackerman, Harvard University

Published as *The Villa: Form and Ideology of Country Houses* (1990); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1984Painting as an ArtRichard Wollheim, Columbia University

Published as *Painting as an Art* (1987); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1983The Shape of France Vincent Scully, Yale University

Published as *Architecture: The Natural and the Manmade*(1991, St. Martin’s Press, New York)

1982The Burden of Michelangelo’s PaintingLeo Steinberg, University of Pennsylvania

1981Palladian Architecture in England, 1615–1760John Harris, Royal Institute of British Architects

1980Principles of Design in Ancient and Medieval ArchitecturePeter Kidson, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London

1979Cézanne and AmericaJohn Rewald, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Published as *Cézanne and America: Dealers, Collectors, Artists, and Critics, 1891–1921 *(1989); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1978The History of Art CollectingJoseph W. Alsop, Journalist

Published as *The Rare Art Traditions: The History of Art Collecting and Its Linked Phenomena Wherever These Have Appeared* (1982); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1977The Sack of Rome: 1527** **André Chastel, Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art/Collège de France

Published as *The Sack of Rome: 1527 *****(1982); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1976Aspects of Classical ArtPeter von Blanckenhagen, New York University

1975Music in Europe in the Year 1776H. C. Robbins Landon, Musicologist

1974Nineteenth‐Century Sculpture ReconsideredH. W. Janson, New York University

Published as *The Rise and Fall of the Public Monument *(1976) by The Graduate School, Tulane University

1973The Use and Abuse of ArtJacques Barzun, Columbia University

Published as *The Use and Abuse of Art* (1974); ebook edition (2020)

1972Leonardo da VinciLudwig H. Heydenreich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

1971Vasari: The Man and the BookT. S. R. Boase, University of Oxford

Published as *Giorgio Vasari: The Man and the Book* (1979); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1970Some Aspects of Nineteenth‐Century ArchitectureSir Nikolaus Pevsner, Birkbeck College, University of London

Published as *A History of Building Types* (1976); new ebook edition (2023)

1969Art as a Mode of KnowledgeJacob Bronowski, Scientist

Published as *The Visionary Eye: Essays in the Arts, Literature, and Science *(1978, MIT Press); paperback (1981)

1968Imaginative Literature and PaintingStephen Spender, Poet

1967On the Parallel of Literature and the Visual ArtsMario Praz, Università degli Studi di Roma

Published as *Mnemosyne: The Parallel between Literature and the Visual Arts *(1970); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1966Dreamer or Visionary: A Study of English Romantic PaintingLord David Cecil, University of Oxford

Published as *Visionary and Dreamer: Two Poetic Painters, Samuel Palmer and Edward Burne-Jones* (1969)

1965Sources of Romantic Thought Sir Isaiah Berlin, University of Oxford, All Soul’s College

Published as *The Roots of Romanticism* (1999); second edition and ebook (2013)

1964On Quality in Art: Criteria of Excellence, Past and PresentJakob Rosenberg, Harvard University

Published as *On Quality in Art: Criteria of Excellence, Past and Present* (1967); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1963Artist and Individual: Some Aspects of the Renaissance PortraitSir John Pope‐Hennessy, Victoria and Albert Museum

Published as *The Portrait in the Renaissance* (1966); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1962William Blake and Traditional Mythology** **Published as *Blake and Tradition* (1968)Kathleen Raine, Poet

Published as *Blake and Antiquity* (1968); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1961Christian Iconography and the Christian Religion in AntiquityAndré Grabar, Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes/Collège de France

Published as *Christian Iconography: A Study of Its Origins* (1968); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1960Horace WalpoleWilmarth Sheldon Lewis, Yale University

Published as *Horace Walpole*(1960); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1959A Sculptor’s View of the Fine ArtsNaum Gabo, Artist

Published as *Of Divers Arts* (1962)

1958Nicolas Poussin and French ClassicismSir Anthony Blunt, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London

Published as *Nicolas Poussin* (1967); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1957Constancy and Change in Art and ArchitectureSigfried Giedion, Universität Zürich

Published as *The Eternal Present: A Contribution on Constancy and Change *(1962–1964)

1956The Visible World and the Language of ArtE. H. Gombrich, University College London

Published as *Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation *(1960); paperback (2001); new ebook edition (2023)

1955Art and RealityEtienne Gilson, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies

Published as *Painting and Reality* (1957); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1954The Art of SculptureSir Herbert Read, Harvard University

Published as *The Art of Sculpture* (1956); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

1953The Nude: A Study of Ideal ArtSir Kenneth Clark, Arts Council of Great Britain

Published as *The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form *(1956); paperback (1972); ebook (2023)

**1952**Creative Intuition in Art and PoetryJacques Maritain, Princeton University

Published as *Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry* (1953); new paperback and ebook editions (2023)

### Stay connected

Learn more about our exhibitions, news, programs, and special offers.

About
          - About the National Gallery
          - Stories
          - Press
          - FAQs
          - Contact Us

Plan a Visit
          - Getting Here
          - Accessibility
          - Today's Tours
          - Food & Drink
          - Calendar
          - Downloadable Map

Get Involved
          - Donate
          - Membership
          - Volunteer
          - Opportunities
          - Shop Online

Resources
          - Search the Collection
          - Conservation
          - Library
          - Archives
          - The Center
          - Film Programs
          - Music Programs
          - Audio/Video
          - Open Access Images

Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily

**West Building**6th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter or exit from Constitution Avenue, 4th Street, or 7th Street. The Madison Drive entrance is currently closed.*

**East Building**4th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 4th Street.*

**Sculpture Garden**7th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 7th Street, Constitution Avenue, or Madison Drive.*

We are closed on December 25 and January 1.

*The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.*

          -  Twitter 
          -  Facebook 
          -  Instagram 
          -  Pinterest 
          -  YouTube 

© 2024 National Gallery of Art   Notices   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy