FASS Dean named Knight of the Order of the Merit of Italy

 

 

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Professor of Art History and Humanities, John Osborne has been invested as a Cavaliere of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by the Italian Ambassador for his exceptional research contributions to the study of Italian medieval material culture.

Dean Osborne’s award of Cavaliere of the Ordine al Merito, which roughly translates to “Knight of the Order  of  Merit of Italy,” is among that country’s  most prestigious honours – a nomination akin to being knighted by the Queen in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.

“I am very deeply honoured,” said Osborne. “Italy has played a huge role in my life since I first discovered it at age 18, on a Canadian university course held in Venice.”

Evidently, Osborne’s first trip to Italy had a profound impact on him. After returning from his trip to Venice in 1970, he began his academic and professional journey by switching his B.A. major at Carleton to Art History. To this day, and to the great benefit of FASS students, Osborne remains a champion of studying abroad.

“That (summer in Venice) is one of the reasons why I now encourage Carleton programs to offer courses taught elsewhere in the spring session. Students return from such experiences with greater energy and greater focus. These are indeed life-changing moments.”

After graduating from Carleton, Osborne attended the University of Toronto where he completed an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Medieval Studies. He followed this with a doctoral thesis at the University of London (Courtauld Institute of Art).

Dean Osborne has focused his research on the art and archaeology of Italy between the sixth and twelfth centuries, with a particular emphasis on the cities of Venice and Rome. His publications cover such diverse topics as the Roman catacombs, the topography of medieval Rome, saints’ cults, the fragmentary mural paintings from excavated churches such as San Clemente and S. Maria Antiqua, Venetian mosaics and sculpture, and the seventeenth-century antiquarian drawings of medieval monuments now preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor. Osborne has also published his work on the medieval understanding and use of Rome’s heritage of ancient buildings and statuary, as well as cultural ties between Italy and Byzantium.

 

 

Since graduating from Carleton in 1973, Dean Osborne has spent part of every year in Rome. In 2006, the British School – where his research is based – appointed him as a Honourary Fellow. When asked for his sentiments on his exceptional achievement, Osborne said he preferred to let the words of the great English poet Robert Browning speak for him:

“Open my heart and you will see
Graved inside of it, ‘Italy’.
Such lovers old are I and she,
So it always was, so shall ever be.”