Friends Lecture: Dr. Vanessa Rousseau
With generous support from the Mark and Mary Goff Fiterman Fund, the Friends of the Institute present art historian and archaeologist Dr. Vanessa Rousseau as she explores the long history of looting and the destruction of art, archaeology and cultural property from ancient times to the present. Contemporary assaults on cultural heritage in Ukraine and the Middle East show both mercenary and ideological motivations that have been a tactic of warfare since antiquity. She will put this current problem into historical perspective and highlight potential solutions so we can best protect our shared cultural heritage.
Dr. Vanessa Rousseau is an art historian and archaeologist specializing in the art of the ancient Roman Mediterranean, art authentication, provenance and cultural heritage preservation. She currently teaches at the University of St. Thomas and has done archaeological fieldwork, research and technical object analysis in Europe and the Mediterranean. Dr. Rousseau has managed exhibitions and object analysis in museums, universities and private collections. She has lectured locally and internationally on topics including: university art collections; art crime and forgery; object authentication; contemporary and historical looting; cultural heritage management; and ancient Roman painting and lived spaces. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.