Ivan Drpić is the Cecil L. Striker Associate Professor of History of Art. Drpić joined the Penn faculty in 2017, and is currently serving as the Undergraduate Chair of the History of Art department.

Drpić’s research interests center upon the art, architecture, and material culture of Byzantium and its Slavic neighbors in Southeastern Europe, with a particular focus on the period from the 11th to the 15th centuries.

Winner of the 2017 Runciman Book Award and the 2019 Karen Gould Prize, Drpić’s first book Epigram, Art, and Devotion in Later Byzantium examines the intersection of art, personal piety, and self-representation in the last centuries of the Byzantine period. He is currently working on a second book project titled The Enkolpion: Object and Self in Medieval Byzantium, which explores the interplay of subjectivity, materiality, and the power of objects in Byzantine culture. This latest project examines “enkolpia,” a broad category of objects worn around the neck, such as crosses, engraved gems mounted in precious metal, and miniature reliquaries. Drpić has also authored a number of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and he is the recipient of several research grants.