A Wonder at the Walters: Essays in Honor of Joaneath Spicer

Joaneath Spicer once said she was born on the third floor of the Walters Art Museum. In point of fact, she first came to the museum just over thirty years ago as the James A. Murnaghan Curator of Renaissance and Baroque Art, and since that time has made an indelible mark on the institution. A prolific writer, lecturer, and mentor, Joaneath’s contributions as a scholar, curator, and colleague extend well beyond the walls of the museum and art history. Joaneath has expanded scholarship in Renaissance and Baroque art as well as brought the arts of antiquity, of the contemporary world, and even zoology and taxidermy firmly into conversation with the works she stewards. Yet, perhaps Joaneath has correctly ascribed the place of her “birth,” as the art, people, and spaces at the Walters Art Museum have directly contributed to who she is today (fig. 1). In celebration of her over thirty-year career at the Walters, this volume of the Journal of the Walters Art Museum is dedicated to Joaneath Spicer and her incredibly wide-ranging scholarly and curatorial interests.

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