C.M. (Cleo) Nisse
Assistant Professor for Early Modern European ArtShe/ her/ hers
Telephone:
E-mail:
c.m.nisse rug.nl
Field/Discipline
Expertise
Cleo Nisse received her PhD and MPhil in art history from Columbia University, New York, in 2024. Prior to that she trained as a paintings conservator at the Courtauld Institute, London and holds a B.A. in history from Cambridge University. Immediately before joining the University of Groningen as Assistant Professor, she held a three year Paul Mellon fellowship at The Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Nisse's research sits at the intersection of early modern art history, technical art history, and art conservation. Geographically, her work centers on Venice and the early modern Venetian Empire. Her forthcoming book Venetian Canvas and the Transformation of Painting | Princeton University Press investigates why Venetian artists adopted canvas and how it revolutionized their art between 1400 and 1600. It offers a new history of a catalyzing change in painting technique, a demonstration of the rich interpretive potential to be found in the physical foundations of images, and a fresh model for interdisciplinary art research. Other research interests include relationships between early modern art and the environment; connections between art, craft and science; materials, materiality and techniques; theories and practices of art in the Renaissance; Titian and approaches to Titian over the centuries; women artists, in particular Giulia Lama (1681-1747).
Other positions
- National Research School (OSK), member education committee
- University of Groningen, MA PC Committee Arts & Culture, chair
- My office is room 213 in Oude Boteringestraat 34. Please email me to make an office hours appointment in-person or online.
Last modified:22 October 2025 6.03 p.m.