City of Skulls: Art, Ritual, and the Afterlife in Early Modern Naples

Graylin Harrison, M.A.

City of Skulls examines death culture in early modern Naples through a study of its funerary art and devotional objects. The study moves fluidly between fine art, material culture, architecture, and the "living map" of processions and festivals in order address its fundamental inquiry: how and why was death different in Naples? In addition to art historical methodologies, this research brings to bear the history of medicine, social history, and cultural anthropology on a diverse array of both canonical and understudied art objects. While firmly rooted in the early modern period,  this dissertation will explore continuities between pre-modern death culture in Naples and that of the twentieth century and today.