Spencer Glesby 

What do you appreciate most about the field?

I relish the opportunity to study objects that move me, and the people that make them. Artworks can be microcosms that elucidate how human beings live, both on a large and small scale. It also gives me a great excuse to spend all my times in museums.

What do you appreciate most about the department?

I am so thankful for all the opportunities I've been given by the department to study art in its physical setting, whether it was the Palladian Churches of Venice with Joseph Connors or the Mosque of Córdoba with Professor Roxburgh. Those experiences have deeply changed my perspective both academically and personally about why the study of art is necessary and vital.

How did you come to join this concentration?

I came to Harvard certain I would study in the humanities, but at first was worried that a focus on art would be too narrow and confining.  Through taking classes within the department, however, I found that I was learning so much about cultural practice and historical narrative through each of the buildings and works I was studying, and so, I decided that art was the medium through which I wanted to look out on the world.

A thought on a notable faculty/course:

Professor Blier's Engaging the Global in Art History was life changing in so many ways, as was Professor Connor's Venice course, which originally led me to the department. I also encourage all sophomores to take the opportunity granted by the Excursion Course!