Jessica David is the Interim Chief Conservator at the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) in New Haven, CT. She received a BFA/MS in Theory, Criticism, and History of Art, Design, and Architecture from Pratt Institute, NY, and a postgraduate degree in the Conservation of Easel Paintings from the Hamilton Kerr Institute at the University of Cambridge. She was a Kress Conservation Fellow at the Frans Hals Museum in the Netherlands before joining the YCBA in 2008. Her research focuses on historical painting techniques and technical literature—areas on which she has lectured at Yale’s Schools of Art and Art History. Recently, she has explored the artistic practices, materials, and influence of immigrant painters in Britain, as well as the depiction of diverse complexions in 16th- to 18th-century British portraiture.
