I am a historian of early modern art and architecture, working as a researcher, author, curator, editor and translator.
My research focuses on the intersection of artistic and architectural practice in Europe, especially Italy. In particular, I explore the communicative powers of structure and ornament, strategies of architectural representation, the relationship between design and craft, the emergence of the architect as a professional figure, and the production of artistic and architectural knowledge.
I examine these issues within the Italian context and in terms of Italy’s exchanges with Northern Europe and the Byzantine and Ottoman empires.
I was educated at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (MA 2012) and the University of York (BA 2011, AHRC-funded PhD 2016). I was a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the University of Warwick between 2018 and 2024.
Two exciting projects are coming to fruition in 2024:
My book
Painting Architecture in Early Renaissance Italy: Innovation and Persuasion at the Intersection of Art and Architectural Practice,
is about to go to press with Harvey Miller Publishers (Brepols)
OUT JULY 2024
My digital exhibition Beyond the Painter-Architect: Artists Reinventing Architecture in Renaissance Italy, in collaboration with the Sir John Soane’s Museum, will go live in November.
In addition, I recently translated Renaissance Latin texts for an exhibition on Parmigianino at the National Gallery, London (winter 2024).
See my Publications, Exhibitions and Translations pages for more.
Further publication plans include an article on the architectural imagination of painters in Northern Italy and two book projects. The first, entitled “Architecture, Design and Craft in Italy, c. 1300- c.1550” explores the relationship between design and craftsmanship in connection with the emergence of the architect as a professional figure. The second book, provisionally entitled “Ottoman Encounters and the Production of Architectural Knowledge in Early Modern Italy,” investigates how diverse individuals, from merchants and craftsmen to scholars, negotiated the classical architectural heritage in contested territories of the Adriatic and Asia Minor.
I am an active member of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB), for which I co-convene the Architectural History Seminar, and of the US-based Italian Art Society (IAS), for which I sit on the Programs Committee. I was formerly the Newsletter Editor and Publications Coordinator for the IAS (2020-2023).
Find me on LinkedIn, Academia and Humanities Commons
Contact: art.history@livialupi.com