Christopher Lakey

Christopher Lakey is a Lecturer in Global Art History at Fordham University (2023-2024) and a medieval art historian specializing in Romanesque and Gothic sculpture, relief aesthetics, and the material culture of the Middle Ages. He previously served as a William D. Loughlin Member at the Institute for Advanced Study (September-December 2022). His academic background includes studies at the University of California, Berkeley (History of Art) and the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto, where he was a Mellon Fellow/LMS Candidate during 2013/14.

Lakey's research focuses on the intersection of optics, materiality, and religious significance in medieval visual culture. His work explores how medieval people understood materials and material things as participants in powerful economies of signification, influenced by typological exegesis and traditions of theological-philosophical speculatio. He has published extensively on topics including relief sculpture, perspective in medieval Italy, and the theological dimensions of visual culture.

His scholarly output demonstrates consistent engagement with the relationship between material form and spiritual meaning in medieval art. Lakey's publications reveal a particular interest in how light, optics, and theories of relief functioned within medieval visual culture, with significant attention to Italian medieval art from the Romanesque through early Renaissance periods. His work often bridges art historical analysis with philosophical and theological contexts, examining how medieval visual practices reflected broader intellectual frameworks.

• William D. Loughlin Member, Institute for Advanced Study (2022)

Lakey has advised and collaborated with numerous scholars in the field of medieval art history. His research has been supported by prestigious institutions including the Institute for Advanced Study. His work has appeared in leading journals including Gesta, Oxford Art Journal, and Getty Research Journal, as well as in significant edited volumes focusing on medieval visual culture.

He has been actively involved in scholarly communities through conference organization, including the 'Art of the Invisible' conference at the Courtauld Institute of Art (2018), which examined artistic strategies for representing the invisible across disciplinary, chronological, and geographical boundaries.