a photographer leading a discussion of her photos with a group of people in a museum gallery

Events

We sponsor a handful of events each semester related to our collections and temporary exhibitions.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

an ancient Roman cinerary urn
Left: Ancient Roman Cinerary Urn, late 1st century with 18th-century base, restored and completed by Piranesi, marble, 19 5/16 x 13 3/4 x 13 1/8 inches (49 x 35 x 33.4 cm). Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund, 2023.013. Right: Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778), Urna cineraria di marmo, ornata di finissimi intagli [Cinerary Urn in Marble, Decorated with the Finest Carvings], 1778, Plate 84 from Vasi, Candalabri … [Vases, Candalabras …], vol. 2, etching on paper, 15 3/8 x 10 1/4 inches (39.1 x 26 cm). Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund, 2023.026.

Guest Curator Talk—Piranesi: ‘Extraordinary Fellow,’ ‘Sublime Dreamer,’ ‘Inventive Genius’ by John Marciari

Thursday, September 25, 2025, 4:30 PM
Mahaney Arts Center, Room 125
 

Giovanni Battista Piranesi was an artist like no other. Working as an architect, printmaker, polemicist, archaeologist, interior designer, and art dealer, he created works that even today define our notions of Ancient and Modern Rome, and which helped establish a taste for Neoclassical design that spread across Europe. His powers of invention were prodigious, and his influence enormous—maddeningly so for some of his contemporaries. This lecture will survey Piranesi’s fantastic inventions, exploring the process of their creation and their lasting legacy.

John Marciari is the Director of Curatorial Affairs and the Head of the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library & Museum, where he was responsible for the 2023 exhibition and catalogue Sublime Ideas: Drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

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Theresa Fairbanks Harris posing in front of an engraving
Giorgio Ghisi’s engraving (1540’s) after Michelangelo’s Last Supper, Sistine Chapel, Rome. Theresa Fairbanks Harris conserved.

Museum Lecture—Piranesi’s Prints: Paper, Process, and Preservation by Theresa Fairbanks-Harris

Thursday, October 16, 4:30 PM
Mahaney Arts Center, Room 125
 

Physical connoisseurship of works of art informs the analysis, authentication, and conservation of art. Theresa Fairbanks Harris, Senior Works on Paper Conservator at the Yale University Art Museums, will illustrate these topics through examples focusing on the conservation of paper and the printmaking process of Giovanni Piranesi.

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etching of an imaginary prison
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778), The Well [detail], 1761, Plate 13 from Carceri d’invenzione [Imaginary Prisons], etching and engraving on paper, 16 3/16 x 22 1/16 inches (41.1 x 56 cm). Purchase with funds provided by the Memorial Art Fund, 2024.028.

Museum Lecture + Lunch Series: From Curatorial Lab to Museum Exhibition—the Making of Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Visions of Grandeur

Friday, October 24, 2025 | 12:30—2:00 PM
Mahaney Arts Center, Room 125 and Lower Lobby
 

Associate Curator of Ancient Art Pieter Broucke will talk about the process of working with students to curate the Museum’s current exhibit, Visions of Grandeur. Afterward, stay for conversation over a light lunch in the MAC Lower Lobby.

This event is free and open to all, but $5 donations are welcome.

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watercolor image of a crowd of people eating dinner and watching a visual presentation on a large screen at the front of the room

2025 Friends of the Art Museum Purchase Party

Saturday, November 8, 2025 | 5:00–7:30 PM ET
Kirk Alumni Center
 

Join the Friends of the Art Museum as we consider our next gift to the Museum’s collection. Jerry Philogene, Chair of Black Studies, will present three works of art for possible purchase, and the members of the Friends will vote to determine which work gets added to the collection. The evening will also feature a buffet dinner and card bar (debit/credit cards only, cash not accepted – each event ticket will include one free drink).

More information about tickets for the event, as well as the works of art available for purchase, will be available by October 1. In the meantime, if you’re not currently a member of the Friends, be sure to activate or renew your membership to guarantee you’ll be able to vote.

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view of a 17th century salon
Le Petit Salon of Louis XVI, reinstalled at the Middlebury College Museum of Art

Exhibit Tour and Scent Workshop with Saskia Wilson-Brown

Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 4:30 PM
Mahaney Arts Center, Lower Lobby and Museum
 

Saskia Wilson-Brown, Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Art and Olfaction, will offer a special tour of Le Petit Salon and afterward will lead a scent workshop in the former café space in the MAC lobby. Students only! Space is limited. Information on reservations will be released soon.