My research investigates the shifting status of sacred and scientific images in northern Italy during the Catholic Reformation. I am particularly interested in the new authority granted to visual illusionism at this time, and the demands that the so-called ‘Lombard naturalism’ placed on early modern viewers. Broadly speaking my work is guided by an interest in the relationship between materiality and representation and I have published on related topics in early modern, modern, and contemporary art.
Since completing my dissertation on the Sacro Monte di Varallo at the University College London I have been a Lecturer and Visiting Scholar at the University of Essex and a Teaching Fellow at UCL; I have also taught at McGill University. My research has been supported by numerous grants including fellowships awarded by the Mellon Foundation and The Warburg Institute.
I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and my artistic training remains an important part of my teaching and research.
email: contact@carlabenzan.com