Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
This two-year fellowship is devoted to a specific Met project and provides curatorial training and an opportunity for the fellow to engage with a community of scholars from around the world. The fellow is fully integrated into one of the Museum's curatorial departments. The individual works directly with one or more curators, who serve as supervisors and mentors throughout the term of the fellowship.
The fellow also has the opportunity to undertake an independent project in consultation with their supervising curator. Through weekly gatherings and discussions, the fellow takes part in research-sharing workshops that expand dialogue and foster a community of intellectual engagement.
Projects
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Having profound impacts on acquisition policy and on the art market more broadly, provenance research is emerging as an essential skill for curatorial practice. It is also one of the most quickly changing spheres of research—with new data bases, claims, and legal thresholds put forward each year. As part of the Museum’s commitment to the study of the provenance of works in The Met collection, the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow will dedicate the greater part of their two-year position to the history of specific objects under the supervision of curators and other provenance researchers in the Museum. With the principle aim of producing original scholarly and provenance research on the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts’ (ESDA) collection, which includes more than 50,000 objects from Western Europe from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century, the Mellon Fellow will contribute to ongoing efforts to produce new, and synthesize existing, scholarship for various audiences within and outside The Met.
Some of the primary responsibilities will include conducting original research on selected target areas of the ESDA Department’s collections in coordination with the supervising curator/s by consulting and checking archives, monographs, exhibition catalogues, periodicals, sales catalogues, and other literature; thoroughly documenting one’s research and sources in The Met’s collection management system (TMS) by entering and updating data according to Museum-wide standards, and conducting research on the constituents and constituencies that objects in the collection passed through, including collectors, commercial galleries, auction houses, and dealers.
Robert Lehman Collection
The Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship will provide significant curatorial training for a scholar in the field of early Italian art. Through in-depth scholarly research and the cataloguing of the Robert Lehman Collection’s fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian paintings, the Mellon Fellow will develop advanced research skills fundamental to curatorial work and acquire knowledge of all facets of collection cataloguing.
Over the course of the two-year fellowship, the Mellon Fellow will be responsible for conducting research, compiling up-to-date bibliographies, writing short descriptions (web labels) and longer catalogue entries on a selection of Italian paintings in the collection. The small size of the Lehman Collection’s curatorial staff will enable the fellow to play an especially vital role in curatorial projects and be integrated into the fabric of the department as a whole. The Mellon Fellow will make a significant contribution to the department’s ongoing endeavor to update scholarship in this area of the collection and make it accessible to a broad public.
Since the fellowship period will dovetail with a project to re-install several fifteenth-century Venetian and northern Italian paintings, the fellow will also have the opportunity contribute to permanent collection installations.
Fellowship Period
Fellowships are 24 months in length, beginning on September 1 following the application deadline. All fellowships must take place within this two-year period.
Eligibility
Candidate must hold a doctoral degree (or international equivalent) in art history or archaeology with a specialization related to one of the projects above. The candidate must have received the degree within five years of the start date of the fellowship (that is, September 1 of the year following the application deadline).
Funding
The fellow will receive:
• An annual salary of $60,770
• Fringe benefits
• A stipend of up to $6,000 for research-related travel
Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellows are temporary full-time exempt employees of The Met.
