Inaugural Rothkopf Scholars Head for Spain

Junior art majors Jenna Cellini, Stefany Feliciano, Greg Herchenroether, and Kristen Holahan will study art and architecture in Spain May 15-25 as the inaugural participants in the Arthur J. ’55 and Barbara S. Rothkopf Scholars program.

The program is funded by an endowment established through gifts made to the recent Lafayette Leadership Campaign in honor of Lafayette President Arthur J. Rothkopf ’55 and Barbara Sarnoff Rothkopf. Also established through this endowment is the Arthur J. ’55 and Barbara S. Rothkopf Professorship in Art History, which is held by Diane Cole Ahl.

Cellini (New City, N.Y.) is a Marquis Scholar pursuing two degrees, a B.S. in civil engineering and A.B. with a major in art. Feliciano (Forest Hills, N.Y.) is a double major in English and art. Herchenroether (Pittsburgh, Pa.), a Trustee Scholarship recipient, is double majoring in English and art. Holahan (Yardley, Pa.) is a Trustee Scholarship recipient and a double major in art and economics & business.

The students were selected through a competitive process on the basis of essays they submitted and overall record within the art department and the College, says Robert S. Mattison, Metzgar Professor and head of art.

“The subject of the first trip will be multiculturalism in Spain, and it will use art and architecture to examine Christian, Jewish, and Muslim components of Spanish culture. It is a very exciting topic with both historical and contemporary relevance,” Mattison says. “The purpose of the program is to increase students’ knowledge of the history of art and to allow them to study in context art works and monuments, some of which might be unavailable to the public at large. We hope that such an opportunity will significantly aid these students in their studies and in their career goals.”

Experts from outside Lafayette will lead annual Rothkopf Scholars study trips each May, following final exams. Leading the trip to Spain will be Lynette Bosch, associate professor of art at State University of New York College at Geneseo.

Based in Madrid, the students will take overnight trips to Santiago de Compostela and to Grenada and day trips to Segovia, Salamanca, Ávila, and Toledo.

In Madrid they will tour the National Archeological Museum, Prado Museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art, Reina Sofía National Museum, Lazaro Galdiano Museum, Joaquin Sorolla Museum, National Library, and contemporary art galleries and studios.

They will visit the cathedral and pilgrimage route in Santiago de Compostela and the Albayzin quarter, Alhambra, and cathedral in Grenada.

Their experience in Segovia will include the Jewish Quarter, cathedral, Roman aqueduct, churches of San Esteban and San Martín, and Alcázar palace.

In Salamanca they will visit the university, and in Ávila will visit the cathedral and monastery of Saint Teresa of Ávila.

They will tour the Toledo cathedral, Visigothic churches, synagogue, and Casa del Greco Museum.

Bosch is author of Art, Liturgy, and Legend in Renaissance Toledo: The Mendoza and the Iglesia Primada, published in 2000 by Pennsylvania State University Press. It examines liturgical manuscripts that members of the powerful Mendoza family commissioned for the cathedral of Toledo at a time when it was the symbolic center of the Spanish nation.

Another book, Ernesto Barreda: Contemporary Chilean Painter, was published in 1996 by Morgan Press. Bosch holds an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University, an M.A. from Hunter College of the City University of New York, and a B.A. from Queens College, CUNY. In 1998-99 she was a fellow at Radcliffe’s Bunting Institute