Christoph Frank

Christoph Frank is Full Professor at the Academy of Architecture of the University of Italian Switzerland (USI), where he heads the Institute of History and Theory of Art and Architecture (ISA) and is also affiliated with the Institute of Italian Studies (ISI). A leading scholar of early-modern European art and architecture, he is additionally a member of the university Ethics Committee.

Education:

• Courtauld Institute, University of London – Art History
• Warburg Institute, University of London – History of the Classical Tradition

Research Interests:
Frank’s work centres on 17th- and 18th-century European art and architecture, with particular attention to art collecting practices in Germany and Russia, the trans-European networks of agents and correspondents who mediated artistic exchange, and the art theory of Enlightenment thinkers such as Denis Diderot and Friedrich Melchior Grimm. His investigations combine archival research with the study of visual and textual sources to illuminate the circulation of art, ideas and luxury objects across courts and academies.

Scientific Awards & Fellowships:

• Max Planck Research Fellowship, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome (2000–2002)
• Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme & Columbia University, Associate Research Fellow (2005)

Grants & Projects:
Frank has directed numerous funded projects on early-modern collecting and artistic networks. While specific grant titles are not detailed in the supplied text, his sustained record of publications and fellowships attests to continual research funding.

Laboratories & Teams:
As director of the Institute of History and Theory of Art and Architecture at USI, Frank leads an interdisciplinary team of researchers investigating historical and theoretical questions in art and architecture. The institute hosts seminars, conferences and collaborative publications that link USI with international partners.