Rate My Professor David Nolta

David Nolta serves as Professor and Chairperson of the Department of History of Art at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He holds a BA from the University of Michigan, an MA from the University of Chicago, and a PhD from Yale University in the History of Art. Nolta has built a distinguished career at MassArt, where he teaches a range of art history courses, including those on Western art monuments, Renaissance art, modern architecture, and specialized topics such as Leonardo da Vinci and the Da Vinci Code phenomenon. He leads student travel courses, such as Renaissance Splendor in Venice, and organizes academic events like the Student Research Symposium on Asia Pacific Visual Cultures. As department chair, he oversees faculty and curriculum in the History of Art program, contributing to the institution's commitment to integrating art historical scholarship with studio practice in a leading public art college.

Nolta's academic achievements include prestigious fellowships from Fulbright, Kress Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Frances Blanshard Prize for the outstanding dissertation in the History of Art from Yale University. His publications feature scholarly contributions such as the essay 'The Life of Francesco de Mura' in the catalog In the Light of Naples: The Art of Francesco de Mura (Toledo Museum of Art), and 'The Body of the Collector and the Collected Body in William Hamilton's Naples' in Eighteenth-Century Studies 31, no. 1 (1997). He has developed online courses like Major Mind-Blowing Moments in the History of Western Art for the Kadenze platform, broadening access to art historical education. Nolta extends his expertise through public engagement, appearing on WBUR's Radio Boston to reflect on the year in art (2016), providing analysis for Hyperallergic on Leonardo's Salvator Mundi (2017), and discussing Leonardo da Vinci's genius in media outlets including NBC News. His work bridges rigorous scholarship with public discourse on pivotal moments and figures in art history.