The IAS welcomes contributions to this list of any grants or fellowships relevant to the study of art made in Italy from antiquity to the present day. Please use this form.
Grants are grouped by eligibility for graduate students, junior scholars, and open rank.
Graduate/Predoctoral
The American Academy in Rome offers full-term predoctoral fellowships (of approximately eleven months). Predoctoral fellowships are meant to provide scholars with the necessary time to research and complete their doctoral dissertations. Applicants for predoctoral fellowships must have fulfilled all predissertation requirements, and preferably completed a draft of the first chapter of their dissertation, by the application deadline.
The Council for European Studies (CES) offers a number of grants and awards, including Mellon Foundation sponsored Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowships and Dissertation Completion Fellowships in European Studies.
The Lemmermann Foundation / Fondazione Lemmermann offers scholarships in the classical studies and humanities to graduate students wishing to conduct research in Rome on a topic related to Rome or Roman culture from prehistory to the present day. There are no restrictions on nationality, although basic knowledge of Italian is required.
The Fulbright Program offers opportunities to students to study in Italy through a highly competitive program.
The Getty Foundation offers a number of Residential Grants and Fellowships at the Getty Research Institute, including Predoctoral Fellowships. Graduate Internships are offered in the four programs of the J. Paul Getty Trust (the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation) to students who intend to pursue careers in fields related to the visual arts.
The Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max Planck Institut regularly offers predoctoral fellowships. Check the Research Support section of their website for current competitions and application deadlines.
Middlebury Language Schools offer Kress Fellowships for Language Study for graduate students in European art history to attend the Middlebury summer Language Schools, in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish. These fellowships are intended for graduate students in art history with a proposed focus on European Art History. Preference will be given to graduate students who have recently been accepted or are currently enrolled in the requisite program at a Ph.D.-granting institution in the United States. In exceptional cases advanced undergraduates in Art History who are preparing for graduate study in the same field may also be considered. Fellowships cover the comprehensive fee (tuition, room, and board) at the Middlebury summer Language Schools. They are merit-based and intended for exceptionally qualified individuals.
The Society of Architectural Historians offers a dissertation grant. The Gill Family Foundation Dissertation Research Fellowship supports dissertation research in the field of architectural history and related areas including, but not limited to, the history of interiors, landscapes, urbanism, architectural theory, and architectural criticism by graduate students whose work has potential to impact discourse in the field. The Award consists of a $5,000 stipend paid to the recipient to be used for dissertation research needs and expenses including travel, accommodations, fees, etc. Like other SAH awards, the recipient will be announced at the SAH Annual International Conference and in the SAH Newsletter and documented in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH).
The Villa I Tatti offers various fellowships each academic year to scholars working on any aspect of the Italian Renaissance. Fifteen I Tatti Fellowships, each for twelve months, are available annually for post-doctoral research in any aspect of the Italian Renaissance broadly understood historically to include the period from the 14th to the 17th century, and geographically to include transnational dialogues between Italy and other cultures (e.g. Latin American, Mediterranean, African, Asian etc.). Several other short term and joint fellowships are available. More information.
Postdoctoral/Junior Scholars
The American Academy in Rome awards the Rome Prize to scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers. It also offers a number of limited-term Visiting Scholar appointments each year and is host to a variety of Affiliated Fellows and Summer Programs.
The Getty Foundation offers a number of Residential Grants and Fellowships at the Getty Research Institute, including Postdoctoral Fellowships.
The Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max Planck Institut regularly offers postdoctoral fellowships. Check the Research Support section of their website for current competitions and application deadlines.
The Library of Congress offers Kluge Fellowships for research. Scholars who have received a terminal advanced degree within the past seven years in the humanities, social sciences, or in a professional field such as architecture or law are eligible. Applicants may be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals. Fellowships are tenable for periods from four to eleven months at a stipend of $5,000 per month for residential research at the Library of Congress.
The Society of Architectural Historians offers the H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship to allow a recent graduate or emerging scholar to study by travel for one year. The Fellowship is *not* for the purpose of doing research for an advanced academic degree. Instead, Prof. Brooks intended the recipient to study by travel and contemplation while observing, reading, writing, or sketching. The goals are to provide an opportunity for a recent graduate with an advanced degree or an emerging scholar to: see and experience architecture and landscapes first-hand; think about their profession deeply; acquire knowledge useful for the recipient’s future work contribution to their profession and contribution to society.
The Villa I Tatti offers various fellowships each academic year to scholars working on any aspect of the Italian Renaissance. Fifteen 12-month I Tatti Fellowships are open to scholars within 10 years of the PhD for postdoctorate research in any aspect of the Italian Renaissance. For Short Term Fellowships at Villa I Tatti – The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. These include the Wallace Fellowship (for scholars who explore the historiography and impact of the Italian Renaissance in the Modern Era, 19th-21st centuries); the Berenson Fellowship (for projects addressing the transnational dialogues between Italy and other cultures); the Digital Humanities Fellowship (for projects that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries and actively employ digital technology); the David and Julie Tobey Fellowship (to support research on drawings, prints, and illustrated manuscripts from the Italian Renaissance); the Craig Hugh Smyth Fellowship (for curators and conservators pursuing advanced research in any aspect of the Italian Renaissance); the Warburg/I Tatti Joint Fellowship (for early and mid-career scholars in the fields of history and history of science); the I Tatti/Museo Nacional del Prado Joint Fellowship (for art historians working on projects that address the relationship between Spain and Italy); and the I Tatti/DHI ROM Joint Fellowship for African Studies (for post-doctoral scholars working on African studies or topics that closely consider Africa).
All Levels
The American Philosophical Society offers Franklin Research Grants to support the cost of scholarly research leading to publication in all areas of knowledge.
The Bogliasco Foundation awards fellowships to those working in the Arts and Humanities at the Liguria Study Center. The Foundation gives preference to persons whose applications suggest that they would be comfortable working in an intimate, international, multi-lingual community of scholars and artists. Bogliasco Fellows may be accompanied by their spouses/partners during their stay at the Liguria Study Center. Spouses/partners who intend to pursue a project in one of the disciplines, and who wish to be designated as Bogliasco Fellows, must submit separate and complete applications.
The Cesare Barbieri Endowment for Italian Culture offers an annual Trinity College Research Grant in Modern Italian History to a United States citizen to conduct research in Italy on modern Italian history (after 1700) in any genre.
The College Art Association (CAA) offers Annual Conference grants supporting international members, students, emerging scholars, practitioners, and artists. Applicants must be CAA members. Individuals may apply for more than one grant but can only receive a single award. They also offer the Millard Meiss Publishing Grant twice a year to support the publication of book-length scholarly manuscripts in the history of art, visual studies, and related subjects that have been accepted by a publisher on their merits but cannot be published in the most desirable form without a subsidy.
The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation‘s Venetian Research Program awards four types of support for students and scholars working on Venetian topics, including research grants, travel support, and publication assistance.
The Fondazione Giorgio Cini offers scholarships and co-financing to scholars at the graduate, postgraduate, and advanced levels who are willing to spend a research period in Venice, living and working at the Vittore Branca International Center for the Study of Italian Culture, an international resource for humanities studies in Italian culture, with particular emphasis on the visual arts, history, literature, music, and drama from an interdisciplinary point of view. The libraries hold over 2000 volumes including illuminated incunabula and 16th-century Venetian publications, featuring works by Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarca, Holy Bibles, and volumes related to popular culture.
The Fulbright Program offers opportunities to scholars to study in Italy through a highly competitive program, including teaching grants, research grants, and Distinguished Chairs.
The Getty Foundation offers a number of Residential Grants and Fellowships at the Getty Research Institute, including Getty Scholar Grants and Library Research Grants. Detailed instructions are available online.
Each year, the International Center for Medieval Art (ICMA) offers five ICMA-Samuel H. Kress Research Awards to support research and publication in medieval art history.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers annual Art History Fellowships for PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and senior museum professionals interested in furthering their scholarly research within one of the Museum’s curatorial departments. See the types of Fellowships available. Working with supervisors and departmental staff, fellows are able to utilize the Museum’s collections as a way to expand their own research and dialogue about art in their field. Throughout their time at the Museum fellows may contribute to departmental projects that complement their research. They will also share their research at the spring fellows’ colloquia in which they give a brief presentation on their work in progress.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) offers numerous research grants to facilitate research and original scholarship in the humanities, including fellowships and summer stipends.
The Newberry Library offers a variety of fellowships to researchers wishing to use the library’s collections. Long-Term Fellowships are available to postdoctoral scholars who wish to be in residence at the Newberry for periods of 4 to 12 months. Deadline 1 December. Short-Term Fellowships are available to postdoctoral scholars, PhD candidates, or those who hold other terminal degrees and who live and work outside of the Chicago Metro area.
The Renaissance Society of America (RSA) awards a number of competitive fellowships to members each year supporting individual research projects and publications that advance scholarly knowledge about the period 1300–1700. The RSA offers two types of research fellowships: residential fellowships supporting one month of research at one of the institutions with which the RSA has a partnership agreement and short-term research fellowships that may be used to support research at the collection or collections of the applicant’s choice. Fellowships are made possible by donations from RSA members and grants from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Applicants must be members of the Renaissance Society of America.
The Rockefeller Foundation offers residencies at The Bellagio Center to scholars, artists, thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners in a serene setting conducive to concentrated, goal-oriented work. Researchers in the humanities are encouraged to apply.
The Summer Institute for Technical Studies in Art (SITSA) offers unique opportunities for professional development for art history faculty, providing a broad introduction to technical art history through object examination, technical studies, analytical equipment demonstrations, gallery tours, hands-on practical sessions, and more.
The UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies offers Ahmanson Research Fellowships for the Study of Medieval and Renaissance Books and Manuscripts to support the use of any of the UCLA Library Special Collections’ extensive holdings in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and printed books. The fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to graduate students or postdoctoral scholars who need to use these collections for graduate-level or postdoctoral independent research.