Hannah Baader

Hannah Baader is a Permanent Senior Research Fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, a Max Planck Institute, and leads the Research Group Transregional Art Histories: Actors, Spaces, Ecologies. She also directs the 4A_Lab (Art Histories, Archaeologies, Anthropologies, Aesthetics), a collaborative research program with the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Her work bridges art history with ecological, transregional, and material perspectives, focusing on Early Modern Italian Art, maritime iconology, and environmental aesthetics.

Education & Career: She earned her PhD in Art History from Freie Universität Berlin (2002), followed by roles at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome and guest scholarships at institutions like the Getty Research Institute and the University of Heidelberg. She has held visiting professorships at the Universities of Heidelberg and Zurich.

Research & Grants: Major grants include a Getty Foundation award for Art, Space, and Mobility in Early Globalization (2010–2015). Her research explores the interplay between art and nature, cultural archives, and transregional networks. Key projects include studies on maritime votive objects, ecological aesthetics, and the iconology of the sea.

Publications & Leadership: Co-editor of Art and Ecology (2021) and author of a forthcoming monograph on sea iconology in Early Modern Italy. She leads international workshops and conferences on topics like Ecology and Aesthetics and has organized exhibitions such as Bildergeschichten vom Meer.

Awards & Recognition: Supported by the Gerda-Henkel Foundation for doctoral research and recognized for interdisciplinary contributions to art history.