Alexandra

Dodson

Education 

• Ph.D. in Art History, Duke University 
• M.A. in Art History, Duke University 
• B.A. in Art History and English Literature (Distinction and Highest Honors), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 

Biography 

Alexandra Dodson is Assistant Professor of Art History, co-director of the Gormley Gallery, and current Morrissy Faculty Fellow.  

Research Interests 

The art and architecture of Italy in the medieval and early modern periods; Carmelite and other mendicant visual culture; east/west cultural exchange; Islamic art; Baltimore architecture 

Publications  

“From Mount Carmel to the Comune: The Eremitical Life in Carmelite Legislation,” in Different Visions: New Perspectives on Medieval Art 12 (2025). 

“Rock, Paper, Chisel, 3D Printer: Teaching Medieval Art with Technology,” in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Archaeology, 6, 2 (2017): 13-29. 

 “Trial by Fire: St. Francis and the Sultan in Italian Art,” in The World of St. Francis: Essays in Honor of William R. Cook, eds. Beth A. Mulvaney and Bradley Franco (Leiden: Brill, 2015). 

Select Presentations 

“Sant’Angelo of Jerusalem and the Carmelite Quest for Legitimacy.” Paper. Andrew Ladis Memorial Trecento Conference. October 2025. 

“Chariots of Fire and Men in White: The Prophet Elijah in the Carmelite Imagination.” Invited lecture. Loyola University, March 2024. 

“Chariots of Fire and Men in White: The Prophet Elijah, the Carmelites, and Mendicant Ideals.” Paper. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, March 2019. 

“The Authority of Antiquity and the Holy Land: Creating Carmelite Identity in Central Italy.” Paper.  Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, April 2017. 

“Constructing Mount Carmel in Central Italy: Carmelite Architecture and Identity.” Paper. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, March 2016. 

“Projecting Polychromy: the Art and Science of Displaying Medieval Sculpture.” Paper (with Mariano Tepper). Southeastern College Art Conference, October 2015. 

“The Marketplace and the Miraculous Madonna: the Carmelites and Cultural Exchange in Naples.” Paper. International Medieval Congress, Leeds, U.K., July 2015. 

“The Prophet Elijah and Mendicant Art in Italy.” Paper. South-Central Renaissance Conference, March 2015. 

“Carmel in the Commune: Referencing and Representing the Holy Land.” Paper. College Art Association Conference, February 2015. 

“The Carmelites and the Virgin from East to West.” Paper. Circulation as a Factor of Cultural Aggregation, Telč, Southern Bohemia, 2014. 

Professional Affiliations and Memberships 

• Renaissance Society of America 
• Italian Art Society 
• Society for the Preservation of Fells Point and Federal Hill 

Awards 

Dr. Dodson’s work has been supported by numerous fellowships, including the AAUW Dissertation Fellowship, the Duke University International Research Fellowship, and a Fulbright Award to Rome, Italy.