James Pilgrim

James Pilgrim serves as Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Design and the Program in Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His interdisciplinary work bridges art history with ecological and philosophical inquiry, focusing primarily on Renaissance Italy and Venetian painting traditions.

Research interests center on Renaissance Art History, particularly ecocritical approaches to catastrophe narratives, religious iconography, and artistic skepticism. His fingerprint analysis reveals dominant themes: Painting (100%), Drawing (75%), Triptych (50%), Rubens studies (50%), Deluge imagery (50%), Venetian art (50%), and Scepticism (50%). Recent scholarship examines intersections of art, ecology, and theology in pre-modern Europe.

Publications demonstrate consistent engagement with environmental catastrophe (e.g., Pastoral's End), animal representation, and artistic techniques. Key trends include reinterpreting flood narratives through ecological lenses, analyzing Rubens' treatment of doubt, and excavating pastoral traditions in Renaissance visual culture.

Award highlights include:

• Humanities Research Institute Summer Faculty Fellowship (2025)
• NEH Collaborative Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship (2022)
• Paul Mellon Fellowship at CASVA (2017)
• RSA-Samuel H. Kress Research Fellowship (2021)
• Solmsen Fellowship at UW-Madison (2021)

As an active scholar, Pilgrim has delivered invited talks on Jacopo Bassano's flood depictions, David Rosand's pastoral theories, and Polidoro da Caravaggio's techniques. His research integrates art historical methods with environmental humanities frameworks, supported by major humanities grants. Current projects include monographs on ecological catastrophe in Renaissance Italy and animal empathy in art history.