Full Name: Shelton, Kathleen J.
Gender: female
Date Born: 1946
Date Died: 1990
Place Born: Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Place Died: Chicago, Cook, IL, USA
Home Country/ies: United States
Subject Area(s): Classical
Career(s): educators
Overview
Classicist art historian, Professor, University of Chicago. Shelton received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1978, writing her dissertation on the topic that would occupy her scholarly interest during her brief life. She began her academic career as a lecturer in art history and archaeology at her alma mater. In 1975 she joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, where she served as an associate professor of art, chairman of the art department, and associate dean of the humanities division. She succumbed to cancer and died in 1990. Shelton wrote a revisionist text on the Esquiline Treasure, famous Roman treasure discovered in 1793 now in the British Museum. While traditional dating had been the 380s or later, Shelton contended that it must have been produced over a 20-year period between 330 to 370 A D. A scholarly debate broke out (principally with Alan Cameron). In 1996 an article published by Ronald T. Ridley confirmed her hypothesis of the location of the original find.
Selected Bibliography
[dissertation:] The Esquiline Treasure: Its Art and Historical Position. Columbia University, 1978; “The Esquiline Treasure: the Nature of the Evidence.” American Journal of Archaeology 89 (January 1985): 147-55; “Roman aristocrats, Christian commissions : the Carrand diptych.” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 29 (1986): 166-180; “Roman Aristocrats, Christian Commissions: the Carrand diptych.” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 29 (1986): 166-180; “The Esquiline Treasure: the Nature of the Evidence.” American Journal of Archaeology 89 no.1 (Jan 1985): 147-155; “The Consular Muse of Flavius Constantius.” Art Bulletin 65 no. 1 (March 1983): 7-23; “The Diptych of the Young Office Holder.” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum Münster 25 (1982): 132-171; “Imperial Tyches.” Gesta 18 no. 1 (1979): 27-38.
Sources
[obituary:] Chicago Tribune. March 27, 1990.