Jennifer Liu

Jennifer Liu is a PhD student specializing in Early Modern sculpture with a focus on Italy. Her research examines the intersection of making and labour in sculptural projects in bronze. With a methodological emphasis on social art history, archival examination, and technical studies, Liu uncovers the largely uncredited labour force with the technical skills and knowledge required to bring sculptures from design into reality. In the bronze foundry, where material expertise is more valuable than so-called ‘artistic genius’, the founder and foundry workers are the key to sculptural production. Beyond Europe, Liu is interested in colonial Latin American art and labour, and the global history of sculpture of various media.

Liu received her BA from the University of Toronto in visual art and art history. She graduated with the highest GPA in her program and received multiple awards in art history, printmaking (silkscreen), and graphic design. Liu received her MA from McGill University in Montreal, where she was funded by multiple sources, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Her MA thesis, titled “Invisible Hands: Labour in the Seventeenth-Century Foundry and the Making of the Cathedra Petri in St. Peter’s Basilica”, reveals that the Cathedra was produced by a large team of over 56 foundrymen who have never been recognized for their work on the iconic monument. “Invisible Hands” names these bronze specialists for the first time and investigates the social hierarchies and dynamics within the seventeenth-century Papal foundries where the Cathedra was cast.

Since 2019, Liu has been a research assistant on Professor Evonne Levy’s multidisciplinary bronze sculpture research project “The Technical Study of Bernini’s Bronzes: Art History, Conservation, Material Science”. In her role, she utilizes her background in graphic design to conceptualize new approaches to visually representing the team’s research and results. For her work on the “Bernini’s Bronzes” project, Liu was awarded two University of Toronto Excellence Awards. Her poster has become the face of the project and has been distributed to institutions around the globe where the team has performed technical studies. Liu was also an intern in the Weddigen Department of the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History where she worked closely with the Scientific Assistants, edited in important texts, and contributed to departmental field seminars in Rome.

Honours, Awards and Grants

• 2022 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada CGS-M
• 2021 Graduate Excellence Fellowship Faculty of Arts at McGill University
• 2021 Dr. Annie Smith Graduate Scholarship
• 2021 University of Toronto Excellence Award
• 2020 University of Toronto Excellence Award
• 2020 UTM Art History Excellence Award