History of Art and Architecture

Emily Hirsch studies the art of the early modern Netherlands. Her dissertation explores the creation of clay sketches and models by Flemish sculptors between the Southern Netherlands, Dutch Republic, and England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Emily's research has been supported by the Renaissance Society of America and Kress Foundation, Huntington Library, Belgian American Educational Foundation, Center for Netherlandish Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Government of Flanders. Emily is the recipient of a 2026-27 Fulbright Open Research Award in Belgium, based at the Museum Plantin-Moretus and Rubenshuis in Antwerp. 

Emily received her BA in History from Yale University (2016) and MA in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art (2018). She has co-curated exhibitions at the John Hay Library at Brown University and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and has held positions at the RISD Museum and Cleveland Museum of Art.