Tony Sigel was Senior conservator of objects and sculpture at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums, responsible for the treatment of sculpture and three dimensional objects of all materials from pre-history to post-modern. He retired from the Straus Center in July of 2022, and is currently an independent conservator and scholar. He was trained through an unofficial museum apprenticeship at the Art Institute of Chicago, and during an Advanced-Level Internship at the (now) Straus Center. He gained many of his ancient ceramics treatment skills under the tutelage of Stephen Koob during four fortunate summers at Sardis, Türkiye, and returned in 2015 as a Supervising Conservator.
His early training in clay sculpture while a student at the Art Institute of Chicago led him into the technical study of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s works in terracotta. In 2004-5 he spent a year as a fellow at the American Academy in Rome studying these works in situ, His publication range includes the technical study of Renaissance, Baroque, and later terracotta sculpture, and the treatment of Ancient Greek, Islamic and other ceramics. He co-authored the catalog for, and co-curated the 2012-13 exhibition "Bernini; Sculpting in Clay" at the Metropolitan and Kimbell museums. In September 2016, he was appointed Robert Lehman visiting professor at Villa I Tatti, Florence, studying the techniques of Renaissance sculptural models. Most recently he completed a technical study of the terracotta models of Antonio Canova for the exhibition, Canova: Sketching in Clay at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He was a Getty Museum Scholar fall, 2023. He is an honorary member and Fellow of AIC, the American Academy in Rome, and the Society of Antiquaries, London.