Valerie Hedquist is a professor of art history at the University of Montana. In 1979, she earned her B.A. from the University of Minnesota before heading to the University of Kansas where she earned her Ph.D. with honors in 1990. She has been teaching and writing for more than 30 years, since 1999 at the University of Montana. Her research focuses on the arts of the 17th and 18th centuries and includes articles on the religious paintings of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Of special interest is the influence of Italian cultural attitudes on the visual output of these Dutch artists and others. Her book on the changing reception and meaning of Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy was published in summer 2019.