Patricia Emison

Patricia Emison is a Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of New Hampshire, renowned for her expertise in Renaissance art history, film studies, and printmaking. Her influential scholarship includes major publications such as The Italian Renaissance and Cultural Memory (2012), Moving Pictures and Renaissance Art History (2021), and The Long Picturesque, or Unraveling the Rules of Art (2024), alongside significant contributions to major exhibitions including Myth, Allegory and Faith (Stanford, 2015) and Marcantonio Raimondi and Raphael (Manchester, 2016).

Her academic credentials include:

• B.A. from Bryn Mawr College
• M.A. from Columbia University
• M.Phil. from Columbia University
• Ph.D. in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University

Professor Emison's research critically examines Renaissance visual culture through interdisciplinary lenses, focusing on printmaking techniques, narrative structures in novelle and visual arts, and the philosophical dimensions of artistic quality. Her work consistently bridges historical analysis with contemporary concerns, particularly regarding digital reproduction's impact on art's aura and the evolving relationship between film theory and Renaissance aesthetics. She investigates how artistic ambition manifests across periods while challenging traditional boundaries between high art and popular visual culture.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals persistent engagement with Marcantonio Raimondi's reproductive prints, Raphael's collaborative practices, and Leonardo's enduring legacy, alongside innovative explorations of digital reproduction's philosophical implications. Her scholarship demonstrates methodological rigor in connecting Renaissance visual strategies to modern cinematic techniques and contemporary art theory, with recurring themes of materiality, narrative construction, and the social functions of art across historical contexts.