I am a historian of art and architecture of early modern Europe. My research focuses on the intersection of artistic and architectural practice, especially in Italy, c. 1300 – c. 1500.
This is the subject of my first book, Painting Architecture in Early Renaissance Italy, and Beyond the Painter-Architect, my digital exhibition with the Sir John Soane Museum, London.
I am particularly interested in the relationship between design and craftsmanship, the emergence of the architect as a professional figure, and the production of architectural knowledge. My current research project reconsiders early modern representations of architecture as epistemic tools impinging on antiquarianism and on the development of scientific methodologies. I explore these issues across Europe and the Ottoman Empire.
I am an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick and General Editor for the journal Architectural Histories . In addition to my research and editorial work, I am active as a curator and translator, contributing translations to the catalogues of major exhibitions on Sebastiano del Piombo, Titian and Michelangelo (see my Translations page). My research has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the University of Warwick and the Warburg Institute.
Listen to my thoughts on the so-called Ideal City panels on podcast Brave New Worlds
Images top to bottom, left to right:
Pesellino, Triumph of David, detail, 1445-55. National Gallery, London. Wikimedia Commons
Altichiero da Zevio, Baptism of King Sevius and Martyrdom of St George, 1384. Oratory of St George, Padua. Wikimedia Commons
Michelangelo, copy after the Codex Coner, inv. 1859-6-25-560r (W18r, Corpus 516r), British Museum, London. Wikimedia Commons
Andrea del Verrocchio and workshop (attr.), Virgin Adoring the Infant Christ (Ruskin Madonna), National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1470–1475. Wikimedia Commons
Titian: Love, Desire, Death. Exhibition catalogue, National Gallery, London and Yale University Press
Benozzo Gozzoli, Virgin and Child Enthroned, 1461-62. National Gallery, London. Wikimedia Commons