What role do relevant (!) foreign languages play in grad admissions?
In Art History, this depends greatly on the language and the area of study. For example, an individual who wants to study Italian Renaissance would likely benefit from knowing Italian, French and German. These are such common languages and the Art is so well studied, that knowing them in advance is likely of little value in regards to admissions. On the other hand, if you want to study ancient Hindi art, then demonstrating that you know Sanskrit could be valuable for admissions since the university may not routinely offer the language and you likely need to be able to read it to write a reasonable proposal.