Dr Francesca Borgo

Lecturer in Art History

Phone: +44 (0)1334 46 2401
Email: fb95@st-andrews.ac.uk

Biography

Francesca Borgo received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Art History with a minor field in Italian Studies from Harvard University in 2017. She previously studied in Italy and Spain and holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Prior to coming to St Andrews, Francesca was a Fellow at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles (2017-18), the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (2013-17), Villa I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies (2015), and the University of Hamburg (2016). Her work has been supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Max-Planck Gesellschaft, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Renaissance Society of America, the Italian Art Society, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others.

Research areas

Francesca Borgo specializes in early modern art, with a focus on fifteenth- and sixteenth-century southern Europe. Much of her research investigates the intersections between visual, literary, and scientific culture in Renaissance Italy. Her current book project explores the emergence of an art critical discourse surrounding the representation of war during the Cinquecento. A second project, The Fragile Image in the Renaissance, looks at the early modern perception of vulnerable, decaying and lost artworks. Other research interests include the work of Leonardo da Vinci and the history of the field of Leonardo studies; the relationship between natural philosophy and artistic theory; the shield as an emblem of artistic excellence; premodern notions of imagination and invention; the physiology of perception and theories of sensory differentiation; antagonistic dynamics in Renaissance culture (among artists, artworks, and media).

PhD supervision

Alfie Robinson

Selected publications

Corpi moderni: la costruzione del corpo nella Venezia del Rinascimento
Beltramini, G. (Editor), Borgo, F. (Editor) & Manieri Elia, G. (Editor), 1 Apr 2025, Venice: Marsilio Arte. 319 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Open access
Nessuno è perfetto
Borgo, F., 2025, Corpi moderni: La costruzione del corpo nella Venezia del Rinascimento.. Venice: Marsilio Arte, p. 54-63 9 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
The work of waste
Borgo, F. & Ezra, R., 1 Apr 2025, Wastework: early modern stories from the cutting room floor. Borgo, F. & Ezra, R. (eds.). Rome: Officina Libraria, p. 7-39 (Dis/appearance; vol. 1).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Wastework: early modern stories from the cutting room floor
Borgo, F. (Editor) & Ezra, R. (Editor), 1 Apr 2025, Rome: Officina Libraria. 246 p. (Dis/appearance; vol. 1)
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Discards by design: recovering waste in the making
Borgo, F. & Ezra, R., 1 Mar 2024, In: West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture. 31, 1, p. 5-25 21 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Waste
Borgo, F. & Ezra, R., 1 Mar 2024, In: West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture. 31, 1
Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review
Open access
Callias’ story and the challenges of ‘thinking big’: Leonardo and Vitruvius write about scale
Borgo, F., 1 Jan 2023, Leonardo da Vinci: l'architettura. Di Teodoro, F. P., Ferretti, E., Frommel, S. & Schlimme, H. (eds.). Rome: Campisano Editore, p. 211-224 14 p. (Itinéraires; vol. 6).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Open access
Ferro, carta, inchiostro: poetica e ragioni di un progetto espositivo
Borgo, F., 1 Jan 2023, La cittá di Vitruvio per Leonardo: le mostre del cinquecentenario. Di Teodoro, F. P. & Perissa Torrini, A. (eds.). Venice: Marsilio Arte, p. 156-169 14 p. (Collana del Centro studi vitruviani; vol. 7).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Orlando a Venezia
Borgo, F., 1 Jan 2023, Giardino di conversazioni: scritti in onore di Augusto Gentili. Barbieri, C., Di Monte, M., Economopoulos, H., Paul, B., Pavanello, L., Sapienza, V. & Sarti, M. G. (eds.). Roma: Bardi Edizioni, p. 37-47 11 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Open access
Summoned by bells: the soundscape of Leonardo da Vinci’s 'Battle of Anghiari'
Borgo, F., 1 Apr 2023, In: Source: Notes in the History of Art. 42, 3, p. 170-178 9 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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