Dr. Michael Shane Harless
Education:
Ph.D., Rice University
M.A., Tulane University
M.T.S., Vanderbilt University
B.A., Birmingham-Southern College
Courses:
ART 110. Art Appreciation
ART 280. Art History: Ancient Art
ART 281. Art History: Non-Western Art
ART 282. Art History: Italian Renaissance Art
ART 392. Readings in Art History
ART 393. Honors Readings in Art History
ART 481. Women in Renaissance and Baroque Art
ART 482. Topics in Art History (Medieval Art)
Bio:
Dr. Harless specializes in the art and architecture of late medieval and early Renaissance Europe and the Mediterranean, with special attention to the artistic output of Italy and the global networks of cross-cultural exchange to which the region was connected. From 2024-2025, Dr. Harless served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University in New York. His current book project entitled, Veiled Epiphanies: Encountering the Body of Christ within the Art and Architecture of the Poor Clares of Central Italy, focuses on the art and architecture of the Clarissan Order in Italy during the 13th and 14th centuries, and how female religious participated in the liturgy from the remote location of their choir. Dr. Harless has presented aspects of his work at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, the Andrew Ladis Memorial Trecento Conference, and the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America.
Accomplishments:
Select Publications:
“Cloistered Encounters: The Poor Clares’ Eucharistic Devotion at San Pietro in Vineis in Anagni and San Sebastiano in Alatri,” in Artistic Encounters in Trecento Italy, eds. Trinita Kennedy and Theresa Flanigan. Turnhout: Brepols, 2026, forthcoming*
Review of Flesh and Fabric: The Raiment of the Passion in a Crucifixion by Pietro Lorenzetti, by Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Franciscan Studies 84 (2026), forthcoming*
“The Nest of the Silver-Winged Dove: The Transmutation of Sacred Space at San Damiano in Assisi and the Early Eucharistic Culture of the Poor Clares,” Franciscan Studies 83, no. 1 (2025), pp. 27-55.
Select Presentations:
“The Itinerancy of the Marzolini Triptych and its Didactic Message to the Poor Clares of Sant’Agnese in Perugia,” 2026 Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Winston-Salem (NC), October 21-24, 2026.
“A Painted Bequest for Clausura: The Mysterious Case of the Marzolini Triptych and the Poor Clare Monastery of Sant’Agnese in Perugia,” 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo (MI), May 16th, 2026.
“Antithetical Incarnations: The Haunting Presence of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream Medallion within Pacino di Buonaguida’s Tree of Life,” 2025 Andrew Ladis Memorial Trecento Conference, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens (GA), October 25th, 2025.
“‘So that naked, she might follow the naked one in the way of poverty and charity’: Elizabeth of Hungary as Imitatrix Christi at Santa Maria Donna Regina in Naples,” 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo (MI), May 9th, 2025.