Dr. Laura Valterio
Laura Valterio is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer specializing in early modern European art and its global connections, with a particular focus on the 17th and 18th centuries. Her work foregrounds the material and multisensory dimensions of artifacts, engaging with theories and methods that decenter human and anthropocentric perspectives, including ecology, posthumanism, new materialisms, animal studies, and critical approaches to technology.
Her PhD dissertation exlored the medium of painting through environmental and ecological thought, centering on seventeenth-century Italy. By tracing the trajectories of various artistic materials, the study reinterprets early modern paintings as dynamic ecosystems, highlighting the role of resource extraction, practices of reuse and recycling, gendered and coerced labor, and the agency of non-human animals in the production of art. She is currently developing a second book project at the intersection of art history and the history of technology. This research investigates the history of programmed and automatically generated images on a global scale, focusing on eighteenth-century attempts to encode artistic creativity into algorithmic procedures, particularly in the domain of drawing.
Before joining the University of Zurich, Laura Valterio was a scholarship recipient at the NCCR eikones – Iconic Criticism at the University of Basel (2015–2018). Between 2019 and 2023, she held a research fellowship and served as a scientific assistant at the Bibliotheca Hertziana Max-Planck-Institute for Art History in Rome, where she coordinated the activities of the research priority of Department II “Materiality and Mediality.” During this period, she was also the coordinator of the specialized Master’s program “Art History in a Global Context” at the University of Zurich (2019–2020). Since 2020, she has been a founding member and co-leader of the research project“Rethinking Art History Through Disability.” During the Spring semester 2024, she joined the Chair of Early Modern Art History at the University of Fribourg as a guest lecturer. Alongside her academic work, Laura Valterio has contributed to the development of international museum exhibitions, including "Timeless Wonder: Painting on Stone in Rome in the Cinquecento and Seicento" at the Galleria Borghese in Rome in 2022.
Research Interests
- Early Modern European Art in a Global Context (17th–18th Centuries):
Focus on Italy and the Francophone World - Artistic Materials, Sensory Epistemologies
- Ecology, Environmental Humanities
- Posthumanism, Animal Studies
- Art and Technology, Critical AI Studies
- Decolonial Methodologies
- Disability Studies, Politics of Access
Teaching
Spring Semester 2025
"Against nature": Order and its Transgressions in Early Modern Art (BA/MA Art History), exercise course, University of Zurich (German), Module: Theories and Methods of Art History
De/coding Art? Early Modern Automata Between Sculpture and Artificial Intelligence (BA Art History), seminar, University of Zurich (German), Module: Advanced Course in Early Modern Art History
Fall Semester 2024
Smell it! Olfaction in Modern Art (BA/MA Art History), exercise course, University of Zurich (German), Module: Elective Couse, Medieval and Early Modern Art
Spring Semester 2024
Icons of Life: Images and Intercorporeality from Leonardo to the Test Tube (BA Art History), seminar, University of Zurich (German), Module: Theories and Methods of Art History, Positions
Thinking with Matter: Art-Work in the 17th and 18th Centuries (BA Art History), lecture, University of Fribourg (French), Module: Introductory Lecture to Early Modern Art History
Spring Semester 2023
Care, Disability and Art (BA/MA Art History, Global Art History, Cultural Studies, Applied Arts), with Dr. Virginia Marano and Dr. Charlotte Matter, Dr. Marie France Rafael, Judith Welter M. A., lecture series, University of Zurich / Zurich University of the Arts (English), Module: Institute Colloquium
Lisbon and Porto: Transcultural Exchange in the Portugese World (MA Art History, Global Art History), with Prof. Joris van Gastel and Prof. Tristan Weddigen, field trip, University of Zurich (English), Module: Field Trip Course
Use and Reuse: The Politics of Art in The Age of Revolutions, (BA Art History), seminar, University of Zurich (German), Module: History of Museums and Exhibitions
Fall Semester 2022
Body of Difference: Disability, Art History and the Museum (BA/MA Art
History, Global Art History), with Dr. Jess Baily, Dr. Virginia Marano and Dr. Charlotte Matter, field trip, University of Zurich (English), Module: Field Trip Course, London
Spring Semester 2022
Flanders: From Early Modern to Present (BA/MA Art History, Global Art History), with Prof. Joris van Gastel and Prof. Tristan Weddigen, field trip, University of Zurich (German), Module: Field Trip Course, Antwerp, Bruges, Gent
Fall Semester 2021
Art and Art Theory in Italy, 16th and 17th Century (BA Art History), seminar, University of Zurich (German), Module: Introduction to Early Modern Art History
Spring Semester 2021
Andalusia: From Convivencia to Contact Zone (MA Art History/ MA Art History, Global Art History), with Prof. Joris van Gastel and Prof. Tristan Weddigen, field trip, University of Zurich (English), Module: Field Trip Course, Cordoba, Granada, Seville
Fall Semester 2020
Introduction to Art History (BA Art History), propaedeutical course, University of Zurich (German), Module: Introductory Course
Spring Semester 2020
Transcultural Methods and Postcolonial Theories (MA Art History/MA Cultural Studies), seminar, University of Zurich (English), Module: Theories of Global Art History
Publications
Edited volumes
Jess Bailey, Virginia Marano, Charlotte Matter, and Laura Valterio, eds., Words for Disability and Art History (forthcoming)
Peer-reviewed articles in international journals
“On Getting Lost: Failure as Disorientation,” in Disorienting Lines: Hendrick Goltzius and the Art of Failure, co-authored with Clim Wijnands, in On Failure: Error and Defeat in Netherlandish Art, 1500–Now, ed. Stijn Bussels, Hanneke Grootenboer, Joost Keizer, and Natasha Seaman, special issue of “Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art / Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek,” vol. 76, 2026 (accepted)
“Pulsing Matter: Donald Rodney on History,” in Bodily Matter and Complex Embodiment in the Art of Donald Rodney, co-authored with Virginia Marano and Charlotte Matter, in Cripping Visual Cultures, special issue of RACAR, October 2024, 113–130, specific contribution, 124–129 Open Access
Conference proceedings
Virginia Marano, Charlotte Matter, and Laura Valterio. “On the Use, Reuse, and Misuse of Medical Materials in Art: A Conversation with Vincent Barras and Jillian Crochet.” In Biomedical Visions: Epistemology, Medicine, and Art Practice, edited by Elizabeth Hughes and Alfred Freeborn, 21-47. Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2025 (in publishing)
“‘Ultima mano’: Der Abschluss des Werkes und seine symbolische Aufladung.” In Immagination und Genauigkeit: Passagen – Grenzen – Übertragungen, edited by Aurea Klarskov, Lukas Knierzinger, and Larissa Dätwyler, 123–136. Berlin: Neofelis Verlag, 2021 Open Access
Contributions to books
“Beyond Representation: Disability in Art History,” co-authored with Virginia Marano and Charlotte Matter. In Eine Kunstgeschichte ist keine Kunstgeschichte, edited by Birte Lembke, 225–236. Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2024 Open Access
Articles in exhibition catalogues
“Fragments of Eternity: Painting on Stone in Seventeenth-Century Rome.” In Timelessness Wonder: Painting on Stone in Rome in the Cinquecento and Seicento, (Rome, Galleria Borghese, 25 October 2022–29 January 2023), edited by Francesca Cappelletti and Patrizia Cavazzini, 71–81. Rome: Officina Libraria, 2022 ISBN
“Materiali artistici e temporalità dell’opera nella pittura barocca.” In Tempo barocco, (Rome, Palazzo Barberini, 15 May–3 October 2021), edited by Francesca Cappelletti and Flaminia Gennari Santori, 50–63. Rome: Officina Libraria, 2021 ISBN
Activities
Papers and lectures
“Le monde dans l’art des femmes: genre et altérité dans la peinture du XVIIᵉ siècle.” Invited lecture, “Conférences sur l'art: L'art et les femmes,” Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, March 3, 2026
“The Fabric of Womanhood: Silk, Classed Labor and Reproductive Imageries in Early Modern Italy.” Paper in the panel “Silks Stories: Women in the Early Modern Silk World,” sponsored by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender (SSEMWG), 72nd annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA), San Francisco, CA, February 20, 2026
“Estrarre, scartare, riciclare: l’uso e riuso della pietra nella pittura del Seicento.” Invited lecture in conjunction with the exhibition "Arte e natura: pittura su pietra tra Cinque e Seicento," Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, November 26, 2025.
“Touch no More: Glass and the Emergence of Barriers in Art.” Paper at the international workshop “Art and Materiality in the Iberian World,” Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS), Madrid, September 10, 2025
“Fitting and Misfitting: Notes on Functional Diversity in the History of Art,” with Virginia Marano and Charlotte Matter. Invited lecture within the lecture series “Introduction to Critical Disability Studies,” organised by the Equalities Committee of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Bern, November 29, 2023
“Frida Kahlo’s Corsets”, in Virginia Marano, Charlotte Matter Laura Valterio, Transforming the Medical Through Art. Paper at the international workshop “Biomedical Visions: Aesthetics, Epistemology, and Medical Practice,” Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, September 28, 2023
“Learning from Disability in Art History,” with Virginia Marano and Charlotte Matter. Invited lecture for the Swiss Disability Network, University of Zurich, January 18, 2023
“Rethinking Art History Through Disability,” with Virginia Marano and Charlotte Matter. Invited lecture within the lecture series “Kunstgeschichte/n verlernen, umlernen, neulernen,” Bauhaus Universität Weimar, December 8, 2022
“Guido Reni and Seventeenth-Century Painting on Silk.” Invited paper, Department of History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh, February 5, 2020
“Prävision und Kontrolle in der Malerei des Barock.” Workshop “Medien der Genauigkeit,” University of Basel, October 3, 2018. Presented in the context of the international conference “Media of Exactitude,” University of Basel, October 4–5, 2018
Organisation of workshops, conferences and symposia
“Sensorial Encounters: Haptic and Non-Visual Access in Art.” International workshop, organised with Virginia Marano, Charlotte Matter, and Tobias Teutenberg. Rome, October 25–26, 2024
“The Politics of (Self) Care: A Symposium on Disability Justice and Collective Action as Self-Care.” International symposium, organised with Michael Birchall, Virginia Marano, and Charlotte Matter. Mirgos Museum, Zurich, November 18, 2023
“Unlearn the Body: New Approaches on Disability and Art History.” International workshop, organised with Amanda Cachia, Virginia Marano, and Charlotte Matter. University of Zurich, June 3–4, 2022
“Contemporaneità barocca: Riletture incrociate di due mostre attuali.” International workshop, organised with Francesca Cappelletti, Lara Scanu, and Tristan Weddigen. Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, September 20, 2021
Organisation of seminars and lectures
“Politics of development: Imaging the human embryo series.” Lecture by Nick Hopwood (University of Cambridge), University of Zurich, October 29, 2024. Organised with Agnes Kandlbinder, Sabine Stettler and Virginia Marano
“Material Changes: Olfactory Art and the Environment.” Lecture by Clara Weale (artist), University of Zurich, November 1, 2024. Organised with Virginia Marano
“Disability and Normality.” Lecture by Brian McGowan (ETH Zurich), University of Zurich, October 29, 2024. Organised with Agnes Kandlbinder and Sabine Stettler
“Pietre ‘di diversi colori come l’arco celeste’: il marmo a Genova nell’Età moderna.” Research seminar with Roberto Santamaria (University of Geneva). Organised with Davide Ferri, Kunsthistorisches Intitut, Florence, January 25, 2023
“‘Mental Spinning’: The Female Craft of Thought in the Dutch Republic.” Research seminar with Hanneke Grootenboer (Radboud University, Nijmegen), Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, April 18, 2023
“Portraits and Pathologies: Likenesses and Clinical Pictures in Early Nineteenth-Century France.” Research seminar with Mechthild Fend (University of Frankfurt), Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, April 4, 2023. Organised with Sietske Fransen and Leendert van der Miesen
“The Power of Matter: Signals to Trace a South American Material Atlas.” Research seminar with Gabriela Siracusano (Research Council of Argentina/ Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero), Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, December 6, 2022
“Shards of the New World: Painting on Obsidian and the Ecologies of Early Modern Art.” Research seminar with Christopher Nygren (University of Pittsburgh), Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, December 6, 2021
“Altruistic Desire and Self-Abnegation in the Crypts of Santa Maria della Concezione.” Research seminar with Jason di Resta (Kunsthistorisches Institut Florence), Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, November 2, 2020
