Feature

Studying Art History

By Joni Rosenberg

Art History Professor Jesús Escobar shares his COVID-19 pandemic experience as an educator and researcher of architecture and urbanism in the Spanish Habsburg Empire.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first sent college students home in March 2020, no one knew exactly how daily life would change. Art History Professor Jesús Escobar was guest lecturing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore when its campus, along with others all across the country, was shut down.

At the time, Escobar was involved in three different research projects at various stages of completion. Although their timelines were once very clear, they had to be altered to accommodate the pandemic.

As a researcher of architecture and urbanism, Escobar often travels to cities of interest for onsite visits and archival research. However, the travel restrictions first implemented in spring 2020 meant that it was impossible for Escobar to travel internationally that summer.

The largest impact was on a project Escobar started in 2018. Because it uses biographical

in the Age of COVID-19

information to help explain transatlantic architectural patronage in the Spanish Empire, the project requires extensive archival research.

“[During the] summer of 2020, I obviously wasn’t going to get back to that research project that required the archive,” he said.

He instead focused on another ongoing project about architecture in Madrid under the Habsburg Monarchy (1504–1700).

“The key tasks ahead were to get some final revisions done with the copy editor and then to … start dealing with all the images for the book,” Escobar said. However, the image acquisition process was altered by the pandemic too.

“The book has 143 images in it, and when you publish in art history, you have to get permission for photography that’s not your own,” he explained. “It’s a really long process, and I thought, ‘I better start early because it’s going to take extra long.’”

But not all of these changes have been negative. In fact, Escobar said that he has found new ways to approach research and teaching as a result of the pandemic.

The inability to travel has led Escobar to “discover all these amazing online tools that really saved a lot of scholars during the pandemic.” Online libraries such as the Biblioteca Nacional de España have extensive digital libraries that include primary sources typically acquired through on-site research. He also credited pandemic-related adjustments with further encouraging him to “[figure] out ways to make the research relevant to students.”

Escobar also discussed how the pandemic has impacted his third project, which covers nearly 300 years of architectural history. Because it is meant to be easily digestible for readers new to the history of the Spanish Habsburgs, less archival research is necessary than for the other projects.

“I think it’s a kind of research agenda that adjusts well to COVID,” he said. Although he still has to travel for the third project, he said that those plans were relatively easy to postpone based on the project’s tentative schedule.

Despite the obstacles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Escobar is excited to continue his research and teaching. ■