Dr Manya Pagiavla

Biography

BA (Distinction), MA (Distinction), PhD, FHEA.

Dr Manya Pagiavla is a Lecturer in History of Renaissance Art. She joined the Department for Continuing Education in 2015. In the past, she taught at the Victoria & Albert Museum, at Christie's Education and at the University of Cambridge (Department of Architecture and the Institute of Continuing Education). Manya was a Postdoctoral Associate at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge (2012-2013).

Research

Manya holds a PhD in the history of art and architecture (University of Essex, 2006). As a Renaissance expert, her research focuses on the artists' readings (library inventories) and writings (e.g. marginalia).

Her Doctorate ‘Domenicus Scepticus’ concentrated on the library inventories of El Greco and his marginal annotations on Vasari and the architectural treatises of Serlio and D. Barbaro’s Vitruvius; her PhD is cited at the Prado, the Thyssen and the Louvre among others.

Her latest publication is on the library inventories of Leonardo da Vinci, co-authored with Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford.

In 2017, she was independently awarded a small grant by the A.G. Leventis Foundation to continue research on the library inventories of Leonardo and El Greco: currently in progress.

Further research interests include the cultural exchanges and the respective impact on the formation of the artistic styles in the Renaissance/Baroque, for instance, the Greco-Byzantine or the Northern European influence in Italy and Spain.

Teaching

Manya’s teaching portfolio spans from the Early Renaissance to the 19thc, focussing on the Classical Revival in art, architecture and philosophy (Neo-Aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism) in the High Renaissance/Baroque in Italy and Spain.

Further teaching interests include the Spanish and Dutch Golden Age and 19th-century art and architecture in Britain and France.

Besides higher education teaching, Manya has extensively contributed to widening participation projects, such as sixth form and FE art history tutoring and mentoring.

Manya is a Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) Recognised Teacher and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).