Dr. Zbynek "ZB" Smetana

Education

• PhD, Rutgers University
• BA, Humboldt State University

Expertise

• Italian Renaissance Art
• Northern Renaissance 
• Baroque

Biography

Zbynek “ZB” Smetana is an art historian specializing in the Italian Renaissance, with a secondary interest in the Northern Renaissance and the Baroque. He is currently an associate professor of Art History in the Department of Art & Design at Murray State University in Kentucky, teaching a broad range of courses spanning from prehistory to the Baroque, including global arts, namely Africa and Asia.

His scholarship centers on 16th-century Venetian art. More recently, his interest has expanded to examining the intersection of art, art history, science, and visual culture.

He is also actively involved in study abroad, serving as an MSU representative on the Board of the Kentucky Institute for International Studies and as a director of the Prague Summer Abroad program. Additionally, he has been directing the biannual spring study-abroad trip to Ireland for MSU Education Abroad.