Margo Weitzman is a doctoral candidate at Rutgers University focused on mercantile exchange between central Italy and India during the sixteenth through seventeenth centuries. Her primary research interests include globalization and transnationalism, viewer engagement and phenomenology, and the social life of art objects. Margo received her B.A. in fine art from DePaul University and M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago. She has contributed to several exhibitions, including the upcoming Global Florence: The World of Francesco Carletti, 1573-1636, Flight Paths at the American Academy of Rome, and past exhibitions such as Tensions in Renaissance Cities at the University of Chicago and Paper Trails: Modern Indian Works on Paper from the Guar Collection at Bindu Modern Gallery, which traveled to Grinnell College. She is currently at the American Academy in Rome on a Samuel H. Kress Foundation | Millicent Mercer Johnsen Foundation Rome Prize, and has received support for her research from the Medici Archive Project, the American Historical Association, the Italian Art Society, the Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut (NIKI) in Florence, and the Renaissance Society of America.
How has your time in Rome shaped or shifted the direction of your project so far?
My time here has really encouraged me to expand upon the Roman portions of my dissertation project. I obviously suspected this might be the case, but I have gathered so much material on Jesuit missionary work in India as well as gardening practices among cardinalate families that much of it will either become separate articles or be reworked into the future book. The number of archival sources in this city is endless. The time I have spent in the archives has also yielded some important discoveries, such as travel narratives I would not have otherwise seen, and prints and manuscripts I could not have consulted anywhere else. Rome is a special place for my kind of research.
What part of your daily routine or environment at the Academy has most influenced you and your work?
Living above the library, with my own office, among scholars and artists with overlapping ideas and interests was part of a holistic experience I could not get anywhere else. Also part of this incredibly unique experience is the fact that I have the entire city of Rome outside my door. Every leisurely walk presents opportunities for me to learn more.
Have any encounters — with people, places, new information — opened up new paths in your research or practice in the past months?
During my year here, I have tried to see as many new churches, museums, palazzi, and ruins as I possibly can. Each encounter contributes to my knowledge of the city, its history, and its art history. I will use what I've learned to expand my courses on Rome and make them even more dynamic for my students.
In addition to access to archival sources, manuscripts, and prints, it has also been important for me to have this immersive experience in the city so revered by the people I research in my dissertation. It has allowed me to connect more personally and directly with my work and has made the people, art, and histories I study more tangible.
Engaging with my colleagues has also been formative because so many have encouraged me to approach my work in innovative ways. For instance, I am thinking more critically about what it means to read and write descriptive narrative, and to have tactile and olfactory experiences with my materials while writing the dissertation. All of these engagements are irreplaceable.