Samuel Morrison Gallacher

Samuel Morrison Gallacher read history at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, graduating in 2009 with First Class Honours and the Sir Herbert Butterfield Prize for History. After completing his M.Phil. at Cambridge in 2010, he has been a doctoral scholarship holder at IMT Institute for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy.Gallacher’s Ph.D. research is on art and diplomacy in sixteenth century Europe and the Mediterranean. Specifically, he is interested in the connection between type, context, and meaning of art-objects used as diplomatic gifts. His research considers the increasing sophistication of diplomatic practice within the cultural trends of the Renaissance classical tradition and the volatility of sixteenth century politics as transformative influences on the use, status, and significance of diplomatic gifts. He is supervised jointly by Professor Salvatore Settis of the Scuola Normale di Superiore, Pisa, and by Professor Maria Luisa Catoni of IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca. As this research has a strong museological dimension, he is an affiliated researcher with ICOM Europe. In Spring 2013, he was a Thesaurus Poloniae Junior Fellow of the National Academy of Heritage at the International Cultural Centre, Krakow, where he researched the history of diplomatic gifts at the Jagiellonian Court. In Autumn 2013, he will be a visiting researcher at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice while based at the Vittore Branca Centre for the Study of Italian Culture.