Elisa Stafferini
PhD Student
Research Interests: Early modern art and visual culture | Early modern literature | Women’s studies | War studies | Gender and politics | Word and image studies
Year PhD started: 2019
elisa.stafferini@postgrad.sas.ac.uk
Thesis
Women in Arms: Female Warriors in Italian Art 1500-1700
My project focuses on the ethical and political allusions of armed women in 16th- and 17th-century Italian painting. The early modern period saw a substantial increase in the number of images of women bearing weapons and/or wearing armour, but they have yet to receive sustained scholarly attention. My research aims to unravel the ideological importance of this widespread literary and iconographic figure.
On a broader level my investigations focus on 1. the interconnections between textual sources and visual representations 2. the allegorical meaning of the imagery 3. the role of patronage in relation to the political situation of the time.
Supervisors: Paul Taylor / Sara Miglietti