The University of Delaware's Department of Art History will host Zara Anishanslin, professor of history and art history, for a lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. in Old College, Room 212. The in-person event is part of the department's Graduate Student Lecture Series.

Titled "The Painter's Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution," the lecture will explore how artists in imperial London used paint, canvas and wax to shape revolutionary ideals and challenge the British crown.

Anishanslin's book of the same name, published by Harvard University Press in 2025, follows three largely overlooked figures: British painter Robert Edge Pine, enslaved portraitist Prince Demah and wax sculptor and patriot spy Patience Wright. Their interconnected stories reveal how artists on both sides of the Atlantic helped advance the revolutionary cause.

Anishanslin specializes in early American and Atlantic world history, with a focus on 18th-century material culture and public history. Her research examines how art and everyday objects reveal histories that might otherwise remain hidden.

Drawing on surviving and lost artworks, the talk invites audiences to consider the importance of hidden histories and the stories absent from museum collections as the United States marks its 250th anniversary.