J. Michael Padgett

Curator of Ancient Art


J. Michael Padgett joined the Art Museum in 1992. He has a B.A. from the University of Kentucky (1975), an M.A. from the University of Minnesota (1984), and a Ph.D. from Harvard University (1989). Before coming to Princeton, he was a curatorial assistant at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1983–84) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1986–90 ), and was curator of classical art at the Tampa Museum of Art (1990–92). His principal research interests are in Greek art and archaeology, especially Attic vase-painting. He has organized several exhibitions of ancient art and has written and edited many books and articles, including Vase-Painting in Italy: Red Figure and Related Works in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1993); Roman Sculpture in The Art Museum, Princeton University (Princeton, 2001); and The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art (Princeton, 2003). He is a lecturer in the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University and, since 1996, he has participated in the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus.

Robert Walter Weir, American, 1803–1889
The Greenwich Boat Club, 1833
Oil on canvas
54.0 x 77.5 cm. (21 1/4 x 30 1/2 in.)
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund and the Kathleen Compton Sherrerd Fund for Acquisitions in American Art; frame gift of Eli Wilner & Company (2009-1 )
photo: Bruce M. White