Pastel Portraits: Images of Eighteenth-Century Europe

Marjorie Shelley (MA art history, Institute of Fine Arts; Certificate, degree, Conservation Center, NYU), oversees the conservation of drawings and prints from seventeen curatorial departments. A specialist in fifteenth through early twentieth century drawings and pastels, she frequently lectures and has written numerous publications on drawing materials and artists’ practices; among them, Rembrandt, Fragonard, Wright of Darby, Audubon, Delacroix, Degas, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Sargent. She is editor and chief author of The Met’s preservation manual, The Care and Handling of Art Objects; instituted an annual technical art history symposium on works on paper, and established a collection of historic artists’ materials.

Katharine Baetjer's primary areas of interest are eighteenth-century English, French, and Venetian Old Master paintings and pastels and, secondarily, European portrait miniatures. She has also written on Klimt and Jackson Pollock at The Met and on the history and formation of the collection. A contributor to the online catalogue, she was also a longtime member of the editorial board of the Metropolitan Museum Journal.