Based at the Medici Archive Project in Florence, Sheila Barker is Founding Director of the Jane Fortune Research Program on Women Artists and Executive Director of the institution’s global development and outreach program. Having received her doctorate in art history in 2002 from Columbia University, Dr. Barker is specialized in both the art and the medicine of Southern Europe in the 15th-18th centuries. Her archival research has greatly expanded knowledge of pioneering women artists. She is a leading expert on Artemisia Gentileschi, Giovanna Garzoni, Lucrezia Quistelli, and Teresa Berenice Vitelli.
Books in order of publication:
Irene Parenti Duclos: A Work Restored, An Artist Revealed – 2011
Women Artists in Early Modern Italy: Careers, Fame, and Collectors – 2016
Artemisia Gentileschi in a Changing Light – 2018
Lives of Artemisia Gentileschi– 2021
Artemisia Gentileschi – 2022
Oak Lawn Library Friends 