Teresa Soley
BA (Washington and Lee University), MA (Universiteit Utrecht), PhD (Columbia University)
College roles
Director of Studies in History of Art
University roles
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow
Biography
Dr Teresa Soley studied Art History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Washington and Lee University before completing a Research MA in Art History of the Low Countries at Universiteit Utrecht. She received her PhD in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University, during which she spent several years in Europe researching fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Portuguese funerary monuments, the subject of her first book. She taught Art History at the University of Connecticut and Columbia University before joining the University of Cambridge in 2024 as a Teaching Associate in Renaissance Studies.
Research Interests
Dr Teresa Soley’s core research focuses on the visual and material culture of the late medieval and early modern Iberian worlds, with particular attention to artworks as expressions of identity and to the complex relationship between art and history, especially in the context of the global expansion. Her interest in patronage, viewership, and the physicality of artworks informs her object-centred approach to teaching. Her current project, supported by the Leverhulme Trust and Isaac Newton Trust, examines the artistic outcomes of early modern Afro-European exchanges and the prominence of Africa within the Portuguese imperial imaginary.