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

Cecilia Mazzocchio

Selected publications

Corpi moderni: la costruzione del corpo nella Venezia del Rinascimento
Borgo, F. (Editor), Beltramini, G. (Editor) & Manieri Elia, G. (Editor), 2025, Venice: Marsilio.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Discards by design: recovering waste in the making
Borgo, F. & Ezra, R., 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
The work of waste
Borgo, F. & Ezra, R., 2024, Wastework: early modern stories from the cutting room floor. Rome: Officina Libraria, p. 6-39 34 p. (DIS/APPEARANCE; vol. 1).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Waste
Borgo, F. & Ezra, R., 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
Wastework: early modern stories from the cutting room floor
Borgo, F. (Editor) & Ezra, R. (Editor), 2024, Rome: Officina Libraria. 246 p. (DIS/APPEARANCE; vol. 1)
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Ferro, carta, inchiostro: poetica e ragioni di un progetto espositivo
Borgo, F., 2022, La cittá di Vitruvio per Leonardo: le mostre del cinquecentenario. Di Teodoro, F. P. & Perissa Torrini, A. (eds.). Venice: Marsilio, p. 168-182 15 p. (Collana del Centro studi vitruviani; vol. 7).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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. 199-212 14 p. (Itinéraires; vol. 6).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Scrivere verso destra: Leonardo cambia direzione
Borgo, F., 2022, Decoding Leonardo's Codices. Compilation, Dispersal, and Reproduction Technologies. Nova, A. & Galluzzi, P. (eds.). Venice: Marsilio, p. 53-75 (Studi e Ricerche; vol. 15).
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

Special Review: Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Leicester: a new edition
Borgo, F., 28 Jun 2022, In: Renaissance Quarterly. 75, 2, p. 583-589 7 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review

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