BOOK LAUNCH
Sveva Caetani’s Recapitulation Series:
From Medieval Mysticism to the Space Age
by
Adriana A. Davies
PANELISTS
Peter Shostak
Dr. Emily O’Brien
Dr. Vlad Vintila
Monday, October 26, 2026 | 6:30PM
MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER
Joyce Walley Room
1100 Chestnut Street | Vancouver, BC
FREE ADMISSION | REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Join us at the Museum of Vancouver for the launch of Adriana A. Davies’ new book, Sveva Caetani’s Recapitulation Series: From Medieval Mysticism to the Space Age, celebrating the remarkable life, art, and legacy of Italian-Canadian artist Sveva Caetani.
The evening will feature a presentation by Adriana A. Davies, a screening of selected excerpts from Heidi Thompson’s film Sveva Caetani: Recapitulation – A Journey, and a panel discussion with Peter Shostak, Dr. Emily O’Brien, and Dr. Vlad Vintila, exploring Caetani’s work through art, history, literature, and the Italian-Canadian experience.
Presented by Festina Lente, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto, with support from the Caetani Centre and UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory.
ABOUT PETER SHOSTAK
Peter Shostak is an award-winning Canadian artist and former Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of Victoria. After completing his graduate studies in Art Education at the University of Alberta, he joined the University of Victoria in 1969, where he taught until 1979 before devoting himself full-time to painting and printmaking.
Shostak also knew Sveva Caetani personally and taught her during his time at the University of Victoria. This direct connection, together with his own experience as an artist and educator, brings a uniquely personal perspective to the panel and to the discussion of Caetani’s artistic development, creative life, and legacy.
ABOUT DR. EMILY O’BRIEN
Dr. Emily O’Brien is a historian of Renaissance Italy and Professor of History at Simon Fraser University. She received her BA from the University of Toronto and her PhD in History from Brown University and spent nearly three years conducting research in Rome and Florence.
Her research focuses on the Italian Renaissance, particularly fifteenth-century humanism, politics, and the papacy, with extensive work on the writings of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II. Her broader scholarship explores Renaissance intellectual culture, the reception of classical antiquity, and Neo-Latin literature.
ABOUT DR. VLAD VINTILA
Dr. Vlad Vintila is Senior Lecturer and Dino De Poli Endowment Chair in Italian Studies at Simon Fraser University. He holds a PhD in Italian from Columbia University.
His teaching and research span Italian language, literature, culture, and history, with particular expertise in the late medieval and Renaissance periods and the works of Dante, Boccaccio, and Ariosto. His interests also extend to classical influences on Italian literature, film studies, gender and sexuality, and the relationship between art and power.