Dissertation Title: Veiled Epiphanies: Encountering the Body of Christ within the Art and Architecture of the Poor Clares of Central Italy (1212 – 1350)

Advisor: Anne Derbes

Shane Harless is a PhD Candidate in the Art History department at Rice University. He is completing his dissertation, which focuses on the Eucharistic devotion of the Clarissan Order in Italy during the 13th and 14th centuries, and the manner in which the Poor Clares participated in the solemnities from the remote location of their choir. By analyzing the spatial experience, architectural layout, sculptural, and painted embellishment of extant nuns’ choirs throughout the region, his study attempts to glean further insight into how cloistered viewers sought access to the body of Christ through images, transforming their enclosed prayer chambers into prime resources for ocular communion.

Shane has presented aspects of his work at the 2022 Andrew Ladis Memorial Trecento Conference sponsored by the Frist Art Museum in Nashville (TN), the 2022 annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Dublin, and the 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University. This past May, Shane organized a session sponsored by the Italian Art Society for the 2024 ICMS annual meeting, a major conference in medieval studies, entitled “Spatial Confinement and Virtual Peregrinations of Women in Late Medieval Italy.” After defending his dissertation in July, Shane will begin his appointment as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University in September.