Donna L. Sadler
Professor of Art
Contact Information:
Email: dsadler@agnesscott.edu
Phone: 404 471-6245
Academic Degrees:
B.A., Boston University
M.A., Indiana University
Ph.D., Indiana University
Teaching and Scholarly Interests:
My teaching and scholarship strive to integrate the meaning of monuments within their historical context. For example, to understand the importance of Giotto, one must situate him within the Italo-Byzantine style from which he emerged. My goal is to inspire a respect for the visual arts by revealing their contribution to the history of diverse cultures of both the western and non-western world.
My teaching begins in the caves of Lascaux and focuses on the art of Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque and Rococo. My scholarship revolves around the Gothic period in France, particularly during the reign of Louis IX and Philip the Bold. Both royal patrons were nimble architects of their own fame and prestige, and I have tried to establish a link between the visual programs of the saintly Capetian ruler and the Valois duke.
Professional Activities:
“Lessons fit for a King: The Sculptural Program of the Verso of the West Façade of Reims Cathedral,” Arte Medievale II Swrie, Anno IX, n. 1, 1995, 49-68.
“Predictions, Prophecies, Prose, and Poetry on the Reverse Façade of Reims Cathedral,” Perspectives for an Architecture of Silence. Essays on Cistercians, Art and Architecture in Honour of Peter Fergusson, ed. T. Kinder, Brepols, 2004, 291-300
“The Persistence of the Royal Past on the West Façade of Reims Cathedral,” ed. By Janet Marquardt and Alyce Jordan, in Medieval Art and Architecture after the Middle Ages, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, 274-297.
“The Punctum of Claus Sluter and the Well of Moses,” ed. Laura Gelfand and Sara Lipton, Push me, Pull you, forthcoming, 2010.
Reading the Reverse Facade of Reims Cathedral: Royalty and Ritual in 13th-century France, forthcoming from Ashgate.
Web Links:
Studio Art and Art History Undergraduate Programs
The Department of Art & Art History 