Bio

Peter Low is an Associate Professor of Art. Low received a B.A. from the University of Toronto, a M.A. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University, and a L.M.S. from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Low’s courses at Williams have covered art and architecture from the Early Christian to Late Medieval periods, and have addressed themes such as Picturing God in the Middle Ages; Romanesque and Gothic Art and Architecture: the Medieval Church in Context; the Romanesque Portal; East Meets West in the Art of the European Middle Ages; and Representing Joan of Arc in Pictures, Literature, and Film. His research interests focus on art produced and viewed within a monastic setting, and, in particular, on the relationship within that setting of art and pilgrimage and art and liturgy. His publications include “The City Refigured: A Pentecostal Jerusalem in the San Paolo Bible,” Jewish Art 23-24 (1997-98); “‘You Who Once Were Far Off’: Enlivening Scripture in the Main Portal at Vézelay,” Art Bulletin 85/3 (2003); and “‘As a stone into a building’: Metaphor and materiality in the main portal at Vézelay,” Word & Image 22/3 (2006). The recipient of a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2002-2003 and a Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2006-2007, he is currently working on a book entitled, Building a Dwelling Place for God: The Narthex Portals at Vézelay and Ephesians 2:11-22 in Medieval Art.