The Sheila ffolliott Prize for the Best Book in Art History

Dr. Sheila ffolliott received her PhD in 1979 from the University of Pennsylvania and taught Art History at George Mason University from 1978 to 2009. She has authored dozens of articles, reviews, and essays on early modern women and the arts. She guest curated an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, "Images of a Queen’s Power: The Artemisia Tapestries" (1993) and served on the committee for the exhibition "Italian Women Artists: Renaissance to Baroque" at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, in 2007. Dr. ffolliott is a Trustee of the Medici Archive Project, a former trustee of The National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the former President of the American Friends of Attingham. The Society for the Study of Early Modern Women presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Dr. ffolliott has been a generous benefactor of the Society for many years. In addition to regularly participating in the conference, she served in many leadership positions, including as Vice President (2012), President (2013), and on the Council 2009-2014. This prize honors Dr. ffolliot’s impressive professional corpus and her dedication to the Sixteenth Century Society.

The Sheila ffolliott Prize recognizes the best book written in English and published in the preceding calendar year in the fields of Art History dealing with the Early Modern Era (ca. 1450- ca. 1750). Criteria for selection include: 

  1. quality and originality of research 

  2. methodological skill and/or innovation 

  3. development of fresh and stimulating interpretations or insights 

  4. literary quality 

Nominations for the prize may be made by anyone, including authors. Nominations should be sent to the Executive Director (director@sixteenthcentury.org), who will then send contact information for the committee members. A copy of the nominated work, either in hard copy or electronic form, should then be sent no later than 1 April.

The books to be considered for the prize will be those books published within the preceding calendar year. Anthologies and collections of essays will not be accepted, except in the reference category.