Amy Bloch
Amy R. Bloch received her PhD in art history from Rutgers University in2004 and her BA from Cornell University in 1997. Her research focuses on Italian Renaissance art and architecture and, in particular, the life andwork of the fifteenth-century Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455). Her recent and forthcoming publications examine the evolution of Ghiberti’s approach to the construction of narrative relief sculpture, the sculptor's personal and financial interactions with his corporate patrons in Florence, and the real and symbolic links between imagery and baptismal ritual at the Florentine baptistery of S. Giovanni. She is currently completing a book manuscript that focuses on Ghiberti’s artistic approach and connects his approach to his consideration of civic and religious ritual, his investigations of theories of vision and modesof viewing, and his understanding of the use of public space.