Sara Petrilli-Jones

Sara Petrilli-Jones studies European art and art theory of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. She has additional specializations in twentieth-century architecture and in the history of Italian fascism. Other research focuses on restitution and repatriation; the law of war; and regulation of waste management in eighteenth-century Rome.

Sara is completing her Ph.D. jointly between Yale University and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa; she also holds a J.D. from Yale Law School. She received her B.A. with distinction in History of Art and Italian Studies from Yale College.

Her doctoral dissertation explores the relationship between art history and legal innovation in early modern Italy. It considers laws dedicated to the care and circulation of artworks in light of emerging preoccupations for such objects’ material survival or decay. This project has received the support of numerous external fellowships, including the Samuel H. Kress Foundation/Donald and Maria Cox Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome.

Alongside her research, Sara has worked in art museums and collections in France and Italy, and as a translator of Italian poetry. She is actively engaged in various projects dedicated to contemporary cultural heritage law and policy.