John Garton

Associate Professor, Visual and Performing Arts

Dr. Garton received a B.A. in Philosophy from Trinity University (San Antonio, TX) and Ph.D. in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He joined the Clark faculty in the autumn of 2008.

Dr. Garton’s interests include Renaissance and Baroque art, Latin-American Art and modern architecture. His scholarly research has focused on European portraiture, Venetian art and architecture, Renaissance engineering and designed landscapes. Occasionally he publishes on Pre-Columbian subjects, a secondary area of study.

Dr. Garton teaches lecture courses on Renaissance and Baroque art and Latin-American Art. His upper-level courses include Art, the Public, and the History of Worcester (ARTH 201), The Art of Art History: Teaching and Methods (ARTH 210), both required for the art history major, and seminars on Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio and Pre-Columbian Art & Architecture.

Dr. Garton is currently completing a book-length, multi-author study of the Renaissance designed landscape and statuary of Vicino Orsini’s sacro bosco in Bomarzo, Italy (1552-ca.1585). Other current projects include analysis of Leonardo da Vinci’s so-called ‘grotesque heads,’ and a study of depictions of the Aztec deity, Xipe totec “Our Lord the Flayed One.”

Degrees

  • Ph.D. in Specialization in European Renaissance and Baroque Art, minor in Latin American Art, New York University, 2003
  • M.A. in , New York University, 1998
  • B.A. in Art History and Painting/Liberal Arts, Truman University, 1997
  • B.A. in Philosophy, Trinity University, 1992

Affiliated Department

Visual and Performing Arts

Scholarly and creative works

  • Book

    Book proposal  The Sacro Bosco at Bomarzo: Landscape and Sculpture in Renaissance Lazio

    Architecture and the Arts in Early Modern Italy
    2025
    Tournhout and London
    Belgium and United Kingdom
    John Garton
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Book review A View of Venice: Portrait of a Renaissance City, ed. Kristin Love Huffman (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2024).

    Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
    December
    2024
    Vol. 83
    Issue #4
    John Garton
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Book review of Beasts, Humans, and Transhumans in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance edited by J. Eugene Clay

    Renaissance Quarterly
    Spring
    2024
    Vol. 78
    Issue #2
    Renaissance Society of America
    New York, New York
    John Garton
  • Presentations

    “3D Model Creation of a Renaissance Designed Landscape: the Sacro Bosco, Bomarzo, Italy

    Duke University’s Virtual Cities: Analyzing Fragmented History and a Built Future
    Universita di Padova, Italy
    June 24
    2022
    Sponsored by Duke University
    John Garton
  • Presentations

    “Digital Study of a Renaissance Designed Landscape: the Sacro Bosco, Bomarzo, Italy

    Renaissance Society of America annual conference
    (virtual)
    December 3
    2022
    Sponsored by Renaissance Society of America
    John Garton
  • Presentations

    Visualizing Bomarzo: LiDAR and the interpretation of an enigmatic Renaissance landscape

    Hidden Landscapes of the Past: Uncovering the Ancient World through Lidar
    Washington, D.C.
    July
    2021
    Sponsored by Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard University)
    John Garton
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    “Botanical Symbolism in the Sculptures at Bomarzo,”

    Published in Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes
    Spring
    2021
    Issue #41:2 (Spring 2021)
    John Garton
  • Other Scholarly or Creative Work

    Women of WAM: Depictions of Femininity in Early Modern Europe

    John Garton
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Review of Raymond Waddington’s Titian’s Aretino: A Contextual Study of All the Portraits

    The Sixteenth Century Journal
    Spring
    2020
    Vol. 51
    Issue #1
    John Garton
  • Chapters In Books

    Paradigms of the Grotesque
    Chapter: “Letters on the Grotesque by Pirro Ligorio (c. 1512-1583),”

    Published by Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies Press
    2019
    John Garton
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    “An Olmec Style Statuette in the Worcester Art Museum,”

    Published in Mexicon: The Journal of Mesoamerican Studies
    2017
    Vol. 39
    Issue #2
    John Garton
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Review of Xavier Salomon, Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice (London: National Gallery, 2014).  

    The Sixteenth Century Journal
    Fall
    2015
    Vol. 46
    Issue #3
    John Garton
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Review of Robert Tittler’s The Face of the City: Portraiture and Civic Identity in Early Modern England (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, paperback 2013).  

    The Historian
    Winter
    2014
    Vol. 76
    Issue #4
    John Garton
  • Chapters In Books

    Paolo Veronese: Versatile Master of Renaissance Venice
    Chapter: “The Portraiture of Veronese,” and “Veronese’s Letters and Chronology,” 

    Published by Ringling Museum of Art
    2012
    John Garton
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    “Paolo Veronese’s Art of Business: Painting, Investment, and the Studio as Social Nexus,” 

    Published in Renaissance Quarterly
    Fall
    2012
    Vol. 65
    Issue #3
    John Garton
  • Chapters In Books

    New Studies on Old Masters: Essays in Renaissance Art in Honour of Colin Eisler
    Chapter: “The Scaling Ladders of Leonardo da Vinci: Art and Engineering,” 

    Published by Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies Press
    2011
    John Garton
  • Book

    New Studies on Old Masters: Essays in Renaissance Art in Honour of Colin Eisler

    2011
    Toronto
    Canada
    John Garton, Diane Wolfthall
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Review of Paolo Veronese: The Petrobelli Altarpiece, ed. Xavier F. Salomon (Milan: Silvana editoriale, 2009) 

    College Art Association On-Line Reviews, peer-edited & series editor David G. Wilkins
    August
    2010
    John Garton
  • Chapters In Books

    Titian, Tintoretto, & Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice
    Chapter: “Portraiture,” “Gentleman of Fashion,” “Portraits of Warriors,” and “Portraits of Family and Children,”

    Published by Museum of Fine Arts
    2009
    John Garton
  • Chapters In Books

    Titien, Tintoret, Véronèse…Rivalités à Venise
    Chapter: “Parents et enfants,” 

    Published by Musée du Louvres Editions
    2009
    John Garton
  • Book

    Grace and Grandeur: the Portraiture of Paolo Veronese

    2008
    Turnhout and London
    Belgiam and England
    John Garton
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Review of Locating Renaissance Art, ed. Carol M. Richardson (Volume Two in The Open University’s textbook series Renaissance Art Reconsidered). 

    Renaissance Quarterly
    Spring
    2008
    Vol. 55
    Issue #1
    John Garton
  • Reviews, Abstracts, Pamphlets

    Review of Marianne Koos’ Bildnisse des Begehrens: Das lyrische Männerporträt in der venezianischen Malerei des frühen 16. Jahrhunderts — Giorgione, Tizian und ihr Umkreis.  

    Renaissance Quarterly
    Winter
    2007
    Vol. 54
    Issue #4
    John Garton

Awards and grants

  • Sherman Fairchild Arts +Technology Grant Fellow

    external foundation

    clock icon Sep. 1, 2024 – Jun. 30, 2025
  • Sherman Fairchild Arts & Technology Grant Application

    Sherman Fairchild Foundation

  • Digital Humanities Summer Institute Scholarship

    Renaissance Society of America & the University of Victoria, CA

    clock icon Jun. 12, 2023 – Jun. 17, 2023