Francesca Bisi

Francesca is a PhD candidate in art history whose research explores representations of cheetahs in fourteenth- to sixteenth-century Italian art, with a focus on the Este court in Ferrara. Bringing together art history, global Renaissance studies, historical animal studies, and zoology, her interdisciplinary work investigates the cheetah’s role in courtly spectacle, diplomacy, and systems of exchange. More broadly, she is interested in representations of non-native animals as both living beings circulated along global networks of gift exchange and trade and as pictorial evidence of innovation and tradition. Her research foregrounds questions of identification and nomenclature in art historical scholarship, calling for a careful distinction between the animal and the pseudo-animal.

Additionally, Francesca is interested in queer studies in medieval and early modern Europe, particularly in how scholars negotiate terminology to bridge early modern and contemporary audiences. Her interest in marginalized communities and the expansion of the canon led her to the ouevre of Lucia Lopresti (Anna Banti), art historian and novelist. By engaging with this scholar's work, Francesca is interested in exploring the relationship and tension between history and historical fiction, on, considering how experimental narrative strategies might offer alternative methodologies for art historical research beyond the constraints of traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Francesca graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, double-majoring in art history and Italian studies. During her undergraduate studies, she worked at the Emile H. Mathis Gallery, the university's art collection, where she gained experience with curation, installation, and object-based research. She was awarded her first master's degree in history at the University of Edinburgh in 2020. In 2023, she completed a joint master's in art history and museum studies from Tufts University, completing two qualifying papers and graduating with a 4.0 GPA. In her first qualifying paper, Francesca analysed the relationship between architecture and ephemera in the Corpus Domini convent in Ferrara. Her second project instead turned to the representations of black Africans in Renaissance Italy, focusing particularly on the Este and Gonzaga courts. 

During her time at St. Andrews, Francesca has worked extensively as a tutor for the School of Art History's first-year modules, "Art in Europe and Beyond to 1600" and "Art in Europe and Beyond, 1600-1800", and has led art history workshops through the University’s International Education and Lifelong Learning Institute. Francesca has served in numerous volunteer roles, including as co-chair of the PGR Symposium for Art History and Museum and Heritage Studies in 2025, and as the Postgraduate Research Representative for the School of Art History during the 2025-26 academic year.