Rita de Cássia do Monte Lima is a PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania specializing in early modern art. She earned a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts with a concentration in Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil, graduating with honors.
Her research focuses on Northern European art from 1450 to 1650, representations of nature, Dutch Brazil, hunting imagery, Wunderkammers, traveling artists in South America, landscapes, and zoological illustration. She also engages with broader frameworks, including the philosophy of art, intellectual history, animal studies, environmental history, and the history and theory of representation.
Rita has contributed to the field through her article “Como vender o exótico: Frans Post e o mercado para o Novo Mundo” (How to Sell the Exotic: Frans Post and the Market for the New World), published in Atas do XV Encontro de História da Arte in 2022.
In addition to her academic research, she has curated exhibitions and edited their accompanying catalogues. Her curatorial projects include Natureza e Natureza Imaginada (Nature and Imagined Nature, 2023), Perspectivas Atmosféricas: Paisagens e Mudanças Climáticas na Paraíba em Três Tempos (Atmospheric Perspectives: Landscapes and Climate Change in Paraíba in Three Periods, 2022), and Contos de Curiosidades Naturais e Artificiais (Tales of Natural and Artificial Curiosities, 2018).