Lisa M. Rafanelli is a professor of Italian Renaissance art history. She joined the Department of Art History in 2004, after completing her dissertation, “The Ambiguity of Touch: Saint Mary Magdalene and the ‘Noli Me Tangere’ in Early Modern Italy,” at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. She teaches a wide range of courses, from the introductory level Survey of Art History to courses on Medieval art and architecture, art in Italy during the early and high Renaissance, northern Renaissance art, and Baroque art and architecture. Her advanced seminars cover the life and work of Michelangelo, artistic production in 15th-century Florence, and women artists of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque. Prof. Rafanelli also teaches Decoding DaVinci as part of the Castle Scholars Program. She regularly co-leads the Art History Department's study tours to Italy, taking students to Florence, Venice and Rome.

Prof. Rafanelli’s research interests include the relationship of early modern feminist theory to the visual arts, the senses in 16th-century European art, and the reception of the European Renaissance in modern American culture. She has published in a wide variety of peer-reviewed journals and edited anthologies, and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences.

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Art History Survey, Part I
Northern Renaissance Art
Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo
The Age of Castle and Cathedral: European Art and Architecture 400-1400
The Life and Times of Michelangelo

Ph.D., New York University Institute of Fine Arts
J.D., Columbia University Law School
Master of Arts, New York University Institute of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude), Queens College, CUNY

Manhattanville College Research Grants, 2014, 2012

Samuel F. B. Morse Fellow, Institute of Fine Arts, 1997-1998, 2000–2001

NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Travel Fellowships, 1996, 2000

Columbia University Law School, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, 1989-1992

Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, 1987-1989

Shelby and Leon Levy Travel Fellowship (NYU), 1988

Phi Beta Kappa, 1986 (Sigma Chapter)