Lora WebbTwo-Year Postdoctoral Fellow

Lora Webb (Ph.D., Art History, Stanford University) studies Byzantine art history.

Her research centers the ceremonial and performative contexts of works of art and architecture, addressing questions of representation and identity. Her book project, Sterile Edges: Eunuchs in Byzantine Art and Ceremony, analyzes the aesthetic import of the elite court eunuchs of Constantinople, tracing their history from the Late Roman/Early Byzantine period to the beginning of Latin rule in 1204.  Attending to both known individuals and anonymous courtiers, the study gathers visual representations, ceremonial roles, and artistic patronage to show how ornamentation, framing, and even omission were crucial components of Byzantine art and ceremony.