Susan Gaylard

Susan Gaylard is an Associate Professor of Italian in the Department of French & Italian Studies at the University of Washington, College of Arts & Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (2004), with prior studies at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. Her research focuses on early modern Italian literature and material culture, particularly the intersection between textual and visual artifacts, gender dynamics, and the construction of literary canons.

Her work explores topics such as fashion, portraiture, nationalism, and theater in early modern Europe. Notable projects include Hollow Men: Writing, Objects, and Public Identity in Renaissance Italy (2013), which examines literary identity through material objects, and her current study on gendered popular historiography via 16th-century illustrated books. She has published on Boccaccio’s Decameron, Aretino’s use of clothing in literature, and Castiglione’s adaptation of Cicero.

Prof. Gaylard’s teaching and research also address “how-to” books of the early modern period, 16th-century portraiture, and Italian depictions of Africa. She has presented widely on these topics in academic conferences across Italy, the UK, and the US.