Dr Sylvia Alvares-Correa

BA History & History of Art (St Andrews); MA History of Art (Courtauld Institute); PhD (University of Oxford) 

I teach or have taught a range of classes, including: 

• Culture and Society in early Renaissance Italy, 1290–1348
• Flanders and Italy in the Quattrocento, 1420–1480
• Decorative Arts: From Medieval through Modern
• Medieval Art through Gothic Eyes
• Arts of the Renaissance: From the Twelfth Century to Global

I also taught A-level History of Art for two years.

My research explores cultural exchanges between the Netherlands and Portugal, as well as Portugal's overseas territories, during the 15th and 16th centuries. I am interested in how cultural and artistic exchanges shaped religious practices and material culture in this period.

My doctoral work investigated the cultural exchanges and artistic adaptations that occurred between the Netherlands and Portugal during the long 15th century, with a particular emphasis on devotional paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and reliquaries. This work is currently being adapted for publication.

My second project examines the translation of the cult of the Eleven Thousand Virgins from northern Europe to Portugal, and subsequently to Portugal's overseas territories. This research encompasses not only the physical translation of relics, but also the linguistic translation of accompanying hagiographies, and local adaption of associated reliquaries and imagery. 

More broadly, my research interests include: gendered patronage; pilgrimages; relics and reliquaries; the movement of art and artists across geographical and cultural zones; and the acquisition and adaption of Netherlandish art in the late medieval and early modern period. 

At Oxford, I also co-convene the Iberian History Seminar.

Catalogue Entries of the Vestments of St John’s College, Oxford (in preparation, publication 2025)

‘Introduction: Rethinking Artistic Mobilities in the Iberian World’ with Costanza Beltrami, in Art, Travel, and Exchange between Iberia and Global Geographies, c.1400–1550 (Brill Publishers, 2024)

Art, Travel, and Exchange between Iberia and Global Geographies, c.1400–1550 (Brill Publishers, 2024) (co-edited with Dr Costanza Beltrami)

‘Crusading in a Lisbon Convent: The Making and Meaning of the Lisbon panorama of the Passion of Christ in Jerusalem’ (Museu do Azulejo) (Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, 2023)