Esther Brenner ’26, a Classics major with minors in Fine Arts and Art History, will travel through France and Italy to develop a collection of creative responses to classical art - sculpture, painting, mosaics, antiques, and architectural spaces. She plans to create a reflective art book that merges critical analysis with poetry, narrative, and visual storytelling. Her itinerary follows in the footsteps of the 18th- and 19th-century Grand Tour, reinterpreted through a contemporary lens. This project represents a synthesis of her academic training and artistic practice: a written and photographic journey shaped by the emotional and intellectual encounters with the art itself.
This fellowship honors Harry Caplan, class of 1916, the late professor emeritus of classics, who taught at Cornell for nearly 50 years and was considered one of Cornell's most beloved and inspiring teachers. After his death in 1980, his former students contributed to an endowment in his honor. Annual travel fellowships from that endowment are awarded to students who share his interests -- including Greek and Latin literature, ancient Jewish culture, and ancient and medieval Latin rhetoric. The fellowship grants can subsidize specific academic projects or intense and informed tourism.
