Dr. Margaret Franklin
Biography
Margaret Franklin, PhD, University of Cambridge (2000), teaches Renaissance and Baroque art. Her interests lie in cross-disciplinary scholarship that seeks to elucidate the influence of ancient Greek and Roman texts on the social and political culture of Renaissance Italy. She authored Boccaccio's Heroines: Power and Virtue in Renaissance Society, which focuses on famous women in the art and literature of Renaissance Italy, and has published numerous articles on cassone narratives and uomini famosi/donne illustri images.
Academic Interests
Courses Taught (titles are clickable to view sample syllabi, where available):
- Baroque Art in Italy
- High Renaissance and Mannerist Art
- Icons and Innovation in Late Gothic Italy
- Survey of Art History: Renaissance through Modern
- Early Renaissance
- Venetian Renaissance
Recent Publications
Book Chapter
“The Construction and Presentation of Heroes and Heroines,” in A Cultural History of Fame in the Renaissance, ed. Arnoud Vissar, vol. 3 of A Cultural History of Fame, gen. ed. P. David Marshall, 6 vols., Bloomsbury Academic, in press.
Articles
“Odysseus and Ino in Apollonio di Giovanni’s Early Renaissance Cassone Narratives,” Source, in print.
"Transforming Circe: Latin Influences on the Depiction of a Sorceress in Renaissance Cassone Narratives," Arts 12/3 (2023), doi:10.3390/arts12030105.
“Odysseus and the Cyclops: Constructing Fear in Renaissance Marriage Chest Paintings,” Humanities 7 (2018): 1-16.
“Silencing Female Reason in Boccaccio’s Teseida delle nozze d’Emilia,” Medieval Feminist Forum 52 (2016): 42-59.
“Imagining and Reimagining Gender: Boccaccio’s Teseida delle nozze d’Emilia and its Renaissance Visual Legacy,” in The Short Story and the Italian Pictorial Imagination from Boccaccio to Bandello and Beyond, ed. Patricia Emison, Humanities 5 (2016): 1-14.
“Virgil and the Femina Furens: Reading the Aeneid in Renaissance Cassone Paintings,” Vergilius 60 (2014): 127-44.
“Constructing Camilla as ‘Other’ in Renaissance Visual Narratives,” Explorations in Renaissance Culture 39 (2013): 1-19.
“Boccaccio’s Amazons and Their Legacy in Renaissance Art: Confronting the Threat of Powerful Women,” Woman’s Art Journal 31 (2010): 13-20.
Current Research
Franklin’s current research interests include Homer's Nachleben in the culture and politics of Renaissance Society, with a focus on Renaissance painted narratives deriving from classical epic poetry. She is also editing a special edition volume, “Metamorphosis in the Arts,” for the online journal Arts.
Courses taught by Dr. Margaret Franklin
Winter Term 2025 (future)
Fall Term 2024 (current)
Winter Term 2024
Winter Term 2023
- AH1120 - Survey of Art History: Renaissance through Modern
- AH5510 - High Renaissance and Mannerism in Italy
- AH7500 - Seminar in Renaissance Art
Fall Term 2022
- AH1110 - Survey of Art History: Ancient through Medieval
- AH1120 - Survey of Art History: Renaissance through Modern