Dr. Jane Daggett Dillenberger was one of the pioneers in the dialogue between modern art and religion. Born in 1916, Dr. Dillenberger started working in the field of art history in 1942. She is a professor emerita in Art and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley, California, and was actively involved in the “religion and the arts” program at the Graduate Theological Union. In addition to her teaching, she was also a curator and a scholar.

Her most important exhibitions were the 1972–73 The Hand and the Spirit: Religious Art in America, 1700–1900, which she co-curated with art historian and museum director Joshua Taylor, and its sequel, Perceptions of the Spirit in 20th Century American Art, which she co-curated with her then-husband, theologian John Dillenberger. Her books include Image and Spirit in Sacred and Secular Art, Style and Content in Christian Art, and The Religious Art of Andy Warhol. Her latest book, The Religious Art of Pablo Picasso, co-authored with art historian John Handley, was published in 2014. Dr. Dillenberger passed away on 11 November 2014.