Eventually I left my art-directing job, because I was accepted with a fellowship into Syracuse University’s MA program in Art History. I did the majority of my course work and research at their facility in Florence, Italy, which I was already familiar with from my earlier semester abroad. I was able to study with a number of renowned scholars such as my principle thesis advisor Rab Hatfield, who's 2002 publication, The Wealth of Michelangelo, received international acclaim. Studying conservation and restoration, I was fortunate enough to get up close and personal to many amazing works at the Florentine Institute of Restoration in the Fortezza da Basso. My research also allowed to work with primary sources that were hundreds of years old in the Archivio di Stato. Almost everything I did over there was an incredible experience. Special thanks go to many of the scholars and educators I learned from and with, including Betsy Purvis, Joseph Silva, Peter Weller, Jenny Cowden, Elaine Ruffolo, Melissa Morenton, Jane Zaloga, Ezzio Buzzegoli, Diane Kunzleman, Jennifer Cook, Helen Watterson, Richard Ingersoll, Lisa Irene, Camille Crites, and Karen Wardzala for being wonderful people and helping me a lot, even if they don't know it or didn't mean to. Also thanks to Jennifer Cossairt for hanging in there with me during the really hard parts.

I wrote my thesis on illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy. Focusing primarily on illustrations by the nineteenth-century French illustrator Gustave Doré and the overwhelming negative response to his work by critics despite its massive public appeal, I investigated the dichotomy that exists between artists and illustrators in contemporary art criticism. The article on the left appeared in Florence's daily newspaper, La Nazione, the day after I participated in Syracuse's Graduate Symposium on Dante and Art. The highlighted part loosely translated reads, "While there is also the academic curiosity of the young New Yorker, John Tomaselli, who is attracted to the illustrations of the Comedy by Gustave Doré. "I too am an illustrator," he says, "and my thesis looks to re-evaluate this form of art, equal to all the others." For more about Doré and some samples of his work, click here.

While living in Italy I had the opportunity to teach two painting classes, along with being a teaching assistant and lecturing in several art history classes for Syracuse University. I also worked as a tour guide giving cultural and art-historical lectures in various locations throughout Italy for Syracuse University, and assisting organizations such as CET Academic Programs based in Siena, and through them organizations such as the American Smithsonian Institute.

Unfortunately, there has been an increased emphasis on anti-terrorism laws in many countries throughout the world including America and Italy following September 11th, 2001. Those, and a number of other factors led me to leave Italy in 2003 and return to New York. I have returned to freelance illustration and design, and am eager for new opportunities and challanges.

Presently I am also working as a digital production artist at Medallion Ltd., a retail specialty group that provides design, manufacturing, and printing services for some of the major names in retail today.