Mirella Levi D'Ancona
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Mirella Levi D'Ancona (1919–2014) was an Italian-born American professor and art historian. She was
professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
at Hunter College (from 1959–1986) in art history. D’Ancona did critical research on iconography of animal, floral and vegetable symbolism on art from the
Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
period to the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
.


Biography

Mirella Levi D’Ancona was born on 7 June 1919 in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, the daughter of Flora Aghib (1895–1982) and Ezio Levi D’Ancona (1884–1941). Her grandfather was writer Alessandro d'Ancona. She attended high school at Giambattista Vico State High School in Naples. D’Ancona started her college studies at University of Naples (Università di Napoli), later transferring to University of Florence (Università di Firenze) where she graduated in 1941 with a degree in art history. Mario Salmi was her thesis advisor, and her thesis was focused on Francesco d’Antonio Del Chierico. In 1944, D’Ancona fled to Switzerland with her brothers due to the uprising of
fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and racial laws. In 1946, she moved to New York City to join her mother, who was already living there. She took various odd jobs upon arrival, eventually becoming the assistant to
Richard Offner Richard Offner (June 30, 1889 – August 26, 1965) was an Austrian-American art historian dedicated to the study of Florentine paintings from the Renaissance. Biography Offner was born in Vienna, Austria, on June 30, 1889. In 1891, his fam ...
of
New York University Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...
. She eventually registered as a PhD student at New York University Institute of Fine Arts. In 1959, D’Ancona took a position as a professor of History of Modern Art at
Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
,
City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
and by 1972 she was a full professor. She reminded there until 1986, eventually earning the title professor emeritus. After her retirement in 1986, she moved back to Florence.


Publications

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See also

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Women in the art history field Women were professionally active in the academic discipline of art history in the nineteenth century and participated in the important shift early in the century that began involving an "emphatically corporeal visual subject", with Vernon Lee as a ...


References

{{Authority control 1919 births 2014 deaths Hunter College faculty University of Florence alumni New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni Women art historians People from Florence Italian emigrants to the United States