Zixiao Huang

Zixiao Huang's research centers on the artistic exchange between Renaissance Italy and China, with a focus on how "China" was visually depicted and perceived in Northern Italy and across Europe.

Prior to his studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Zixiao gained significant experience working and interning at prominent museums and non-profit organizations in Philadelphia and Chengdu, China. In 2020, he contributed to the curatorial team for the exhibition Floating Lights and Shadows: 500 Years of European Paintings, a collaboration between the Chengdu Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and assisted in the writing and publication of the exhibition catalog. During his studies in the Art History department at Temple University, Zixiao specialized in Early Modern Italian art and the outreach of European missionaries in China, culminating in his thesis, The Jesuits in China: Translation, Localization, and Failure. His work was recognized for inclusion in the 42nd Annual Susman History Graduate Student Conference at Rutgers University (canceled due to Covid-19) and SECAC 2023 in Richmond, Vermont.

At the University of Pittsburgh’s History of Art and Architecture department, Zixiao earned his second MA with a thesis titled In Search of the Asian Magus: Rereading Andrea Mantegna’s Adoration. This work offered a new interpretation of Andrea Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi at the Getty Museum, drawing attention to the intriguing resemblance between the eldest magus and the Daoist deity Shouxing, thereby exploring the reception of Chinese iconography in early modern Venetian art.

Recently, Zixiao has participated in several professional workshops, including the Sangalli Institute's seminar "The Archives of the Religious Orders and Their Education Institutions: A New Perspective on Global Catholicism" in Rome, Italy; the Middlebury Language School for Italian; and the Venice Summer School in Digital and Public Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

Selected Presentations

SECAC 2023, Richmond, Virginia

Presenter, “Clothes Make a Man, or Do They?: The Jesuits and the Costuming Issue in China”

Anniversary Lecture Series, Paragon Book Gallery, Beijing, China

Moderator & Host, “Christopher J. Nygren: Titian’s Icons: Tradition, Charisma, and Devotion in Renaissance Italy”

42nd Annual Susman History Graduate Student Conference, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Presenter, “From the Authentic to the Imagination: China through Rubens's Eyes” (Canceled due to Covid-19)