Sarah Daiker

Sarah Daiker studies medieval sculpture and its continued appeal in the modern world, with an emphasis on French architectural elements and their recontextualization in museum collections and other public spaces. Her dissertation examines the intersections of medievalism, historicism, and a developing sense of United States national identity at Washington National Cathedral and in the cathedral’s Bishop’s Garden in the first half of the twentieth century. In her dissertation and current research, Sarah works across art and architectural history, medieval studies, and garden and landscape studies. Sarah’s broader research interests include relationships of the medieval and the modern, the history of collecting and collections, fragments and spolia, and reproductions and revivals.

Sarah was an intern at The Met Cloisters in 2013 as part of The Cloisters Summer Internship Program, where she began developing these research interests. Prior to beginning her studies at Pitt, Sarah earned her M.A. in Art History at Pennsylvania State University, where she studied with Elizabeth Bradford Smith and Anthony Cutler. Sarah’s Master’s thesis on George Grey Barnard (1863–1938), the American sculptor whose collection of medieval European art came to form the cornerstone of The Cloisters Collection, considered the public reception of Barnard’s collections and the desire for medieval art in the United States during the early- to mid-twentieth century. In 2022, Sarah was a participant in Dumbarton Oaks’ Garden and Landscape Studies Graduate Summer Program, “Landscape History and Historiography.” In 2023­­–2024, Sarah was in residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters.

In 2024­­–2025, Sarah will be an Arts and Sciences Fellow in History of Art and Architecture at Pitt as she works toward completing her dissertation.