Temple University

Tyler Rockey is studying the Italian Renaissance and its various engagements with a broad spectrum of historical periods and artistic materials. His primary research pursuits are the labile conceptions of temporality and originality in works “after the antique,” and the physical and semiotic instabilities of Classical sculptures and fragments in early modern collections of antiquities. He has produced conference papers and publications that explore early-sixteenth-century grottesche decoration through the concept of Foucault’s “heterotopia,” as well as the sensorial responses to restored antiquities in early-seventeenth-century Roman collections. His current dissertation project seeks to expand the discourse surrounding Renaissance-era restoration of ancient sculptures by exploring the materiality of various types of ancient stones and reused sculptural materials, and by drawing upon contemporary eco-criticism perspectives and spolia studies. This research is supported by a 2023 fellowship at Temple University, Rome.  

He is also a dedicated educator, bringing several years of teaching experience to Temple, where he has been able to continue to grow and refine his pedagogical approaches. He has created several writing intensive courses that have encouraged students to explore different histories in the Renaissance, such as the period’s reception of ancient Egyptian and Etruscan artefacts and styles, or to consider the multiple contexts and the dynamic, long lives of artworks through practices of spolia, reuse, restoration, and copying.  

MA, Art History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2016 
BA, Art History with a minor in Classics, Penn State University, 2012 

Dissertation Title: Riuso e Restauro: Contextualizing the Reuse of Ancient Sculpture and Material Signification in Early Modern Italy  

Advisor: Marcia Hall, PhD