Wayne Franits

Wayne Franits is a Distinguished Professor and Chair in the Department of Art and Music Histories at Syracuse University. His research focuses on 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art, particularly genre painting, portraiture, and the work of Caravaggio’s followers. He holds a Ph.D. in Art History from New York University (1987), with earlier degrees from SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Farmingdale.

Key Affiliations:

• Member of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program
• Editor of multiple scholarly volumes
• Recipient of the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence (2024)

Recent Research: Investigating late 17th-century art collections in English country houses and Rembrandt’s early career in relation to genre painting. Notable publications include Vermeer (2015), Godefridus Schalcken (2018/2023), and The Ashgate Research Companion to Dutch Art of the Seventeenth Century (2016).

Awards & Grants:

• Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence (2024)
• Subvention Grant from The Leiden Collection (2022)

Labs/Teams: Leads academic initiatives in Baroque art studies and collaborates with international museums on cataloging projects.