Thesis (working title): ‘In mano di forestieri’: The Genoese Patronage, Display and Reception of Early Netherlandish Paintings, c. 1470-1520
Supervised by Professor Susie Nash and Professor Guido Rebecchini
My research investigates the heterogeneous dynamics of artistic patronage in the port city of Genoa, along with the role of Genoese merchants and bankers in shaping the form, imagery, and reception of altarpieces produced in Bruges and Antwerp at the turn of the sixteenth century.
The project is centred on the object-based study of monumental triptychs with complex iconography and formats commissioned by patrons of Genoese origin or descent. These commissions are scrutinised through visual and contextual analysis, and further archival examination to reconstruct their display and reception history. I seek to understand how objects of this scale and grandeur were valued and (mis)understood in Liguria, alongside their role in fashioning their owners’ socio-political image and cultural identity as ‘foreigners’ both at home and abroad. Overall, I aim to question how the diasporic Genoese civic identity engendered new forms of patronage and iconographic possibilities, and to what extent the concept of ‘foreign’ has impacted the shifting reception and scholarship of art in Genoa.
Education
PhD, History of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art (2026 – present)
MA, History of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art (2023 – 2024)
MA Special Option: ‘Reinterpreting the Object. Late Medieval and Renaissance Art in Northern Europe c. 1360-1520′ (course led by Professor Susie Nash)
Dissertation: Quinten Massys’ Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine and Barbara (National Gallery, London). A Study in the Techniques, Meanings, and Reception History of Early Netherlandish Tüchlein
BA (Hons), History of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art (2020 – 2023)
Dissertation: ‘Out of Van Dyck’s Shadow. Jan Lievens’ Work in London and Antwerp c. 1632-1644′
Professional Experience
Assistant Curator of Paintings, Royal Collection Trust (2025 – present)
Assistant Curator of Art, Royal Museums Greenwich (2023 – 2025)
Selected Conferences and Talks
‘From Carlton House to Buckingham Palace. Seventeenth-century Genre Paintings in George IV’s Collection’ (University of Oxford, 6 August 2026)
‘Drawing at Sea: A Closer Look at Van de Velde’s Works on Paper’ (Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre, 15 May 2025)
‘A ‘lascivious’ painting for the Queen’s Bedchamber? Guido Reni’s lost Bacchus and Ariadne in the wake of the Civil War’ (Queen’s House, 24 July 2024)
‘Architectures of Empire: The Queen’s House and Inigo Jones’s legacy’ (Queen’s House, 30 October 2024)
Research Interests
- Early Netherlandish paintings in the Mediterranean
- Flemish and Dutch paintings in the British Royal Collection
- Italian and Dutch painters at the Stuart court
- Technical art history