Anna Russakoff
Associate Professor, Department Chair Art History and Fine Arts
Associate Professor, Department Chair Art History and Fine Arts
- Department: Art History and Fine Arts
- Personal Website:

Professor Russakoff is a specialist in Gothic illuminated manuscripts. She has co-edited a volume on the fourteenth-century artist Jean Pucelle, and recently completed a monograph about miraculous images of the Virgin Mary in French illuminated manuscripts. She has also co-edited a volume about humans and animals in medieval France. Her current research project is about illustrations of cross-cultural animal fables. Russakoff has wide-ranging teaching interests, and enjoys broad surveys of art history in addition to more specialized classes. She is particularly enthusiastic about including the monuments and museums of Paris, France and Europe to enhance the classroom experience.
Education/Degrees
- PhD, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
- MA, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
- BA, Brown University
Publications
- âSome Reflections from Ground Zero,â 513â515 in âForum: Meditations after the fire: Scholars on Notre Dame,â with Coll Thrush, Matthew S. Champion, Kacie Morgan, Una McIlvenna, and Constant J. Mews, in: postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies 10/4 (2019), 513â526, special issue on âMusic, Emotion,â guest-edited by Helen Dell, Andrew Lynch, and Elizabeth Randell Upton. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41280-019-00149-5.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41280-019-00149-5 - Monograph: Imagining the Miraculous: Miraculous Images of the Virgin Mary in French Illuminated Manuscripts, ca. 1250-ca. 1450. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2019.
- âThe Jew, the Merchant and a Miraculous Image: 91Ž«Ăœ Iconography in Gautier de Coinci's Miracles de Nostre Dame manuscripts,â in Jewish Identity and 91Ž«Ăœ Studies/JudĂ©itĂ© et Comparatism: Etudies offertes Ă Astrid Starck-Adler par ses collĂšgues et amis Ă lâoccasion de son soixante-quinziĂšme anniversaire, edited by Roy Rosenstein and Danielle Buschinger. Amiens: Presses du Centre dâEtudes MĂ©diĂ©vales de Picardie, 2019, pp. 387-397
- Mobile Fables: Some Preliminary Notes on Cross-Cultural Animals and their Representations in the Kalila wa Dimna,â in Medieval Manuscripts in Motion: La CirculaciĂłn de manuscritos iluminados en la PenĂnsula IbĂ©rica. Edited by Alicia MiguĂ©lez and Fernando Villaseñor Sebastian. Madrid: CSIC, 2018, pp. 255-265
- âKalila wa Dimna: les fables, les animaux et leurs images Ă travers les cultures,â in Mondes animaliers au Moyen Age et Ă la Renaissance: Actes du Colloque international des 8, 9, 10 et 11 mars 2016 Ă la Maison de la Culture dâAmiens. Edited by Danielle Buschinger et al. Amiens: Presses du Centre dâEtudes MĂ©diĂ©vales de Picardie, 2016, pp. 378-387.
- âPortraiture, Politics and Piety: the Royal Patronage of Gautier de Coinciâs Miracles de Nostre Dame (Paris, BnF NAF 24541).â Studies in Iconography, vol. 37 (2016): 146-180.
- , Co-editor with IrÚne Fabry-Tehranchi, Rodopi, Faux Titre Series, 2014.
- Collaborative Illumination: Jean Pucelle and the Visual Program of Gautier de Coinciâs Les Miracles de Nostre Dame (Paris, BnF, n.acq.fr. 24541),â in , volume edited by myself and Kyunghee Pyun. Brepols/Harvey Miller; November 2013.
- âThe Virgin Hodegetria: an Iconic Formula for Miracle Illustrations in the West?â in La formule au Moyen-Ăge. Edited by Elise Louviot, forthcoming from Brepols (estimated date of publication: May 2013).
- âMiracles de la Vierge et handicap au XIIIe siĂšcle,â in Handicaps et sociĂ©tĂ©s dans lâhistoire : lâestropie, lâaveugle et le paralytique de lâAntiquitĂ© aux temps modernes. Edited by Franck Collard and Ăvelyne Samama. Paris : LâHarmattan, 2010, pp. 129-144.
- Book review of Gautier de Coinci: Miracles, Music, and Manuscripts, ed. Kathy M. Krause and Alison Stones. Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), in Studies in Iconography 30 (2009), pp. 250-253.
- Book review of Marina Vidas, The Psalter of Christina of Norway in the Collection of the Royal Library in Copenhagen (Copenhagen: Museum Tuscalanum Press, 2006), published by CAA.reviews on 26 July 2007.
- Book review of Christopher de Hamel, The Rothschilds and their Collections of Illuminated Manuscripts (London: The British Library, 2005) and the French edition published by the BibliothĂšque nationale de France in 2004, in The Book Collector 55, 4 (Winter 2006), pp. 616-619.
- âThe Role of the Image in an Illustrated Manuscript of Les Miracles de Notre-Dame by Gautier de Coinci: Besançon, BibliothĂšque municipale 551,â in Manuscripta 47/48 (2003/2004), pp. 135-144.
Conferences & Lectures
- Kalamazoo, International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 2019; invited to participate in roundtable session sponsored by the International Medieval Society, Paris, entitled, âIntroduction to Libraries and Archival Work: Conducting research in Paris and Franceâ
- Lausanne, Switzerland, December 2018: Invited to participate in a doctoral seminar entitled, âJeux de mains . . . la question de lâattribution dans les manuscrits.â Presented a paper entitled, âLes mains des artistes dans les deux premiers exemplaires du Miroir historial (BnF fr. 316 et Leiden University Library, Vossius Collection, ms. VGG F 3A)â
- Poitiers, France, June 2018: presented a paper entitled âFormulas for Animals? Animal Iconography in a Fable and in Bestiariesâ as part of the fourth conference in the series âLa formule au Moyen Ageâ
- Amiens, France, June 2018: presented a paper entitled âMiracles and Movement: Miraculous Images of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Illuminated Manuscriptsâ as part of a conference entitled âLâoeuvre en mouvementâ
- Kalamazoo, International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 2017: presented a paper entitled âCross-Cultural Animal Fables: 91Ž«Ăœ Iconography in Three Kalila wa Dimna Manuscripts.â Session sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America.
- Paris France, October 2016: âThe Mouse Transformed into a Girl: Cultural Boundary-Crossing in the Kalila wa Dimnaâ will present a paper as part of a seminar entitled âTravelling Texts and Translated Men: Postcolonialism and Migration across Disciplines.â American University of Paris.
- Paris, France, July 2016: invited to speak at the British Archaeological Association Conference entitled âParis: the Powers that Shaped the Medieval Cityâ on Parisian illuminators. Paper entitled âJean Pucelle, Mahiet and the Fauvel Master: Relationships Between Manuscript Illuminators in Fourteenth-Century ParisâÂ
- Amiens, France, March 2016: conference entitled âMondes animaliers au Moyen Age et Ă la Renaissance;â delivered a paper entitled âKalila wa Dimna: les fables, les animaux et leurs images Ă travers les culturesâ
- St. Louis University, Manuscripta conference at the Vatican Film Library, October 2015; delivered a paper entitled: âPainted and Sculpted Images of Mary in âMiracles of the Virginâ Illustrationsâ
- Lisbon, Portugal, âMedieval Manuscripts in Motionâ conference, March 2015; presented a paper entitled âMobile Fables: Cross-Cultural Animals and their Representations in the Kalila wa Dimnaâ
- Kalamazoo, International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 2014; presented a paper entitled, âKalila and Dimna (Paris, BnF lat. 8504): Visual Lessons from Cross-Cultural Animals.â Session sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art.
Affiliations
- College Art Association
- International Center of Medieval Art
- Medieval Academy of America
- International Medieval Society, Paris
- Historians of Netherlandish Art
- Hagiography Society
Research Areas
- Illuminated manuscripts
- Image-text relationships
- Miraculous images
- Animals in medieval art