Kayla Metelenis (’23) awarded Fulbright scholarship
Research and Conservation of Rubens in Belgium
As a 2023-2024 Fulbright Scholar, Kayla will assist in the study and conservation of a seventeenth-century altarpiece painted by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). She will conduct interdisciplinary research at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, KMSKA) and the University of Antwerp.
The examination and treatment of Rubens’s Madonna Enthroned Surrounded by Saints (c. 1628) aims to augment contemporary understanding of the altarpiece and to supplement existing knowledge about the techniques and materials used by the renowned seventeenth-century Flemish artist throughout his career. Kayla will join a collaborative, multidisciplinary network of Belgian scholars dedicated to the study of Rubens and to the conservation of cultural heritage.
As a student at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, Kayla gained experience studying and treating easel paintings from the dispersed Samuel H. Kress Collection, including an Ecce Homo by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682); this became the subject of her M.A. thesis: Murillo’s Panels: New Insights into Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Ecce Homo for the Seville Cathedral, supervised by Edward Sullivan and Dianne Modestini and passed with distinction. Kayla recently completed her fourth-year capstone placement in the Painting Conservation Department of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (Supervisors: Jay Krueger, Michael Swicklik).
The examination and treatment of Rubens’s Madonna Enthroned Surrounded by Saints (c. 1628) aims to augment contemporary understanding of the altarpiece and to supplement existing knowledge about the techniques and materials used by the renowned seventeenth-century Flemish artist throughout his career. Kayla will join a collaborative, multidisciplinary network of Belgian scholars dedicated to the study of Rubens and to the conservation of cultural heritage.
As a student at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, Kayla gained experience studying and treating easel paintings from the dispersed Samuel H. Kress Collection, including an Ecce Homo by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682); this became the subject of her M.A. thesis: Murillo’s Panels: New Insights into Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Ecce Homo for the Seville Cathedral, supervised by Edward Sullivan and Dianne Modestini and passed with distinction. Kayla recently completed her fourth-year capstone placement in the Painting Conservation Department of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (Supervisors: Jay Krueger, Michael Swicklik).
