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Costanza BeltramiSenior lecturer

About me

I am a lecturer and researcher in Art History. My work explores Gothic art and architecture in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Geographically, I focus mainly—but not exclusively—on the Spanish region of Castile and its international connections. I am interested in architectural drawings, collaboration, transculturation, and temporality.

Teaching

My teaching focuses on Medieval and Renaissance art and architecture from Cordoba to Florence (and beyond). I currently teach on the ground-level courses Konstvetenskap I and II. 

Research

Before joining Stockholm University, I studied Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and worked at the University of Oxford/St Catherine's College. There, I focused on a range of topics broadly related to late-Gothic architecture, notably a newly discovered monumental drawing of a tower from Rouen cathedral, the subject of a book I published in 2016, and ornament prints and their use as artists’ models, which I investigated in an article published in The Burlington Magazine. Building on this experience, I have recently written an encyclopaedia essay on writing about medieval architecture.

In 2020 I completed my PhD thesis on the figure of Juan Guas (active 1453–1496), long recognised as the leading architect of late fifteenth-century Spain. Guas led construction projects at major cathedrals, and he designed monasteries, convents and palaces for the most eminent patrons of his time. He has been celebrated as the ‘genius’ who single-handedly created Spain’s ‘Hispano-Flemish’ style by fusing northern European Gothic with the so-called mudéjar construction techniques of southern Iberia, derived from Andalusi traditions. Thus, his buildings pose fascinating questions regarding migrant networks, cultural contact, the meanings of architecture, and the role of art in debates on national identity from the 15th century to the present. These questions underpin my current book project, on collaboration, artistic identity, and the geographies of exchange in late-Gothic Castile. A recent book chapter builds on this research to consider memory, modernity and anachronism in the decoration of the Toledan convent of San Juan de los Reyes and its later reception.

Broader issues of exchange animate the volume Art, Travel and Exchange between Iberia and Global Geographies, 1400–1550, co-edited with Sylvia Alvares Correa and published by Brill. Bringing together contributions from international scholars working on Spain, Portugal, and related regions, this edited volume aims to address the impact of ‘itinerant’ artworks, artists, and ideas, and to investigate moments of encounter, conflict, and non-linear transfers of materials, techniques, and iconographies. I am also interested in architectural drawing, and I am currently editing a special issue on portable drawings and paper in Medieval and Gothic architecture.

I am Reviews Editor for the Journal of the British Archaeological Association.

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Art, Travel, and Exchange between Iberia and Global Geographies, c. 1400–1550

    2025. .

    Book (ed)

    Traditional narratives hold that the art and architecture of the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century were transformed by the arrival of artists, objects, and ideas from northern Europe. The year 1492 has been interpreted as a radical rupture, marking the end of the Islamic presence on the peninsula, the beginning of global encounters, and the intensification of exchange between Iberia and Renaissance Italy.This volume aims to nuance and challenge this narrative, considering the Spanish and Portuguese worlds in conjunction, and emphasising the multi-directional migrations of both objects and people to and from the peninsula. This long-marginalised region is recast as a ‘diffuse artistic centre’ in close contact with Europe and the wider world. The chapters interweave varied media, geographies, and approaches to create a rich tapestry held together by itinerant artworks, artists, and ideas.Contributors are Luís Urbano Afonso, Sylvia Alvares-Correa, Vanessa Henriques Antunes, Piers Baker-Bates, Costanza Beltrami, António Candeias, Ana Cardoso, Maria L. Carvalho, Maria José Francisco, Bart Fransen, Alexandra Lauw, Marta Manso, Eva March, Encarna Montero Tortajada, Elena Paulino Montero, Fernando António Baptista Pereira, Joana Balsa de Pinho, María Sanz Julián, Steven Saverwyns, Marco Silvestri, Maria Vittoria Spissu, Sara Valadas, Céline Ventura Teixeira, Nelleke de Vries, and Armelle Weitz.

    Read more about Art, Travel, and Exchange between Iberia and Global Geographies, c. 1400–1550

  • Defence by demolition? Preserving and relocating the cloister of Segovia cathedral

    2021. Costanza Beltrami. Notes and records of the Royal Society of London 76 (2), 237-252

    Article

    In 1520, Segovia's rebel city council besieged the impregnable royal fortress located on a narrow stone outcrop at the far west of the city. The cathedral stood just in front of the fortress, and the rebels demolished part of the church's structure to use it as a secure stronghold. Beyond the physical damage, the revolt demonstrated the peril posed by the proximity of cathedral and castle. Unsurprisingly, it was soon decided that the cathedral would be relocated to the city's main square. Deserted by its canons and chaplains, the old church was a ruin by 1562, while its younger counterpart was slowly reaching completion. Neglect coexisted with preservation: the first step in the construction of a new cathedral was the decision to move the building's cloister—stone by stone—from the old to the new site. This paper discusses the relocation, exploring its denouement and contextualizing it within pre-modern perspectives on heritage and architecture. In the early sixteenth century, the cathedral of the Castilian city of Segovia was relocated from the edge of the city to its main square. A new church was begun in 1525. Construction continued well into the seventeenth century, as the old building decayed and was eventually dismantled. Exceptionally, the cloister of the old cathedral was disassembled stone by stone and carefully—but not exactly—re-erected at the new site. This article explores the cloister's destruction and reconstruction from the perspective of architectural preservation and architectural history.

    Read more about Defence by demolition? Preserving and relocating the cloister of Segovia cathedral

  • A print source for a painting by Gerard David

    2020. Costanza Beltrami. The Burlington Magazine 162 (1410), 748-756

    Article

    A print by the monogrammist known as Master W with the Key, active in the Southern Netherlands c.1465–90, is here identified as the source for the morse on the cope worn by St Donatian in Gerard David’s ‘Canon Bernardijn Salviati and three saints’ in the National Gallery, London, demonstrating that late medieval ornament prints were used by painters as well as goldsmiths and other craftsmen.

    Read more about A print source for a painting by Gerard David

Show all publications by Costanza Beltrami at Stockholm University

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