Amanda Luyster

professor amanda luyster visual arts

Visual Arts Department
Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Harvard University

Fields: Medieval听and cross-cultural art history

Contact Information

Email: aluyster@holycross.edu
Office Phone: 508-793-2782
Office: Fenwick 439
PO Box: 60A

Biography

Dr. Luyster specializes in the study of the art of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in England and France, with particular attention to secular production and cross-cultural contact with the Islamic and Byzantine worlds. Her recent research on the English Chertsey tiles (c. 1250) and their intersection with global textile movements has been awarded support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, the International Center for Medieval Art (ICMA), and the Kress Foundation, and she has been invited to speak about these and related topics at Harvard University, Cambridge University, the University of Oxford, London鈥檚 Institute of Historical Research, Yale University鈥檚 Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and other locations from Boston to China.听Her work has been published in听Gesta, Speculum, Word & Image, Medieval Encounters, Digital Philology, and other journals, exhibition catalogues, and anthologies.听 She was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the ICMA.

In spring 2023 Luyster curated an NEH-funded exhibition entitled听,听Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, 海角社区 (Jan. 26-April 6, 2023). Both the exhibition and its accompanying edited volume (available at听听) reveal the impact that art objects manufactured in the Islamic and Byzantine Mediterranean had on the medieval visual culture of England.听 They also address听the complex phenomenon of the Crusades, in which both violence and dynamic cultural interaction coexisted.听

Press "Bringing the Holy Land Home"

Interviewed regarding 鈥淏ringing the Holy Land Home鈥 for theTimes of Israel, 鈥淚n the Holy Land, clashing Crusaders and Muslims led to a fruitful cultural exchange.鈥 By Rich Tenorio, published 4 April 2023.听听

Interviewed regarding 鈥淏ringing the Holy Land Home鈥 for听Harvard Magazine, March/April 2023 issue.听

Interviewed regarding 鈥淏ringing the Holy Land Home鈥 for University of Chicago professor Anthony Kaldellis鈥檚 podcast, 鈥淏yzantium & Friends.鈥澨齈odcast aired on Jan. 26, 2023.听

My research was the subject of an article in the London newspaper the听Independent, 鈥淩evealed: London鈥檚 long-lost medieval palace recreated after 500 years.听Medieval art investigator, Amanda Luyster, has managed to digitally reassemble most of a mosaic pavement design, originally created for use in the palace.鈥澨鼴y David Keys, published on Jan. 24, 2023.听听

Interviewed regarding the Chertsey tiles for the 鈥淕one Medieval鈥 podcast, part of the 鈥淗istory Hits鈥 network, 鈥渁 growing range of podcasts presented by and featuring historians at the forefront of research and debate.鈥 Podcast aired on Jan. 24, 2023.听

The subject of an article regarding 鈥淏ringing the Holy Land Home鈥 by Menachem Wecker for the wire Religion News Service, in partnership with the Associated Press.听Published Jan. 10, 2023.听听听

Courses

  • Introduction to the Visual Arts
  • Medieval Art
  • Islamic Art
  • Art of Africa and the Americas
  • Kings and Caliphs: Arts of Luxury
  • Arts of Asia: Temples and Silk
  • Art, Travel, & the Medieval Globe