Julie Beckers (°1985) is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Illuminare – Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Art (KU Leuven). She graduated from the University of Oxford (Wolfson College) with a Master in History of Art and Visual Culture. Her thesis examined the reception history of the Saint Benedict fresco cycle by Spinello Aretino at San Miniato al Monte, Florence. At Oxford she developed a broad interest in female devotion and the visual arts in Central and Southern Italy during the period 1350-1550.

Julie received her PhD in Art History from KU Leuven in 2017, with a dissertation that focused on the Art and Architecture of Poor Clare convents in Central and Southern Italy (1350-1550). She specifically looked at the visual culture and the reception of images in convents in Perugia and Naples (supervisors: Prof. dr. Barbara Baert and Dr. Hans Cools).

She received several grants for her academic work abroad including the Major Research Grant (University College London), a research grant from the Fondation Princesse Marie José, and most recently (2019) she completed a Fellowship at the Academia Belgica in Rome.

Her research has appeared in journals such as Incontri Rivista Europea di Studi Italiani and the Bolétin de Arte. She is currently preparing an article on the patronage of the Alfani sisters at the Poor Clare convent of Santa Maria di Monteluce in Perugia.

Julie has worked as an intern in a number of international institutions such as The Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Westminster Abbey (London), and Flanders House (New York). She was an editor at the Rubenianum (Research Institute for Flemish Art of the 16th and 17th centuries, Antwerp). At Illuminare, she continues to develop her interests in the visual arts of Southern and Northern Europe, teaches undergraduate courses, and contributes to several ongoing projects of the Centre.

Publications

Academia