Kathryn Griffith

Kathryn Griffith is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in Art History specializing in early modern Italy. Her dissertation project examines the transformations of gold and silver in Florence in the late-15th and 16th centuries, as both currency and a medium employed by a range of artisan professions. She focuses on how processes of making and unmaking shaped ideas about art, wealth, and value. Kathryn is currently a 2026-27 Second Century Russell Fellow at USC, and her research has also been supported by fellowships and grants from the Medici Archive Project, The Decorative Arts Trust, the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, and the USC Visual Studies Research Institute. Kathryn is also a recipient of the Visual Studies Graduate Certificate.

In addition to her academic work, Kathryn has held curatorial and research internships at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Clark Art Institute, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Prior to USC, Kathryn earned an M.A. in the History of Art from Williams College and her B.A. from Wellesley College.

• MA Williams College, 6/2019
• BA Wellesley College, 5/2015
• Univ. of Bologna