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Blood, Milk, and Tears:
Giovanni Pisano

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Zachary J Gray

Zach in Florence Italy, October 2025

MA Art History (July 2026), The Courtauld Institute of Art

Current research interests:

  • Visual perception and narrative in late thirteenth-century miniatures
  • Giovanni Pisano’s sculptural drama and the affective piety movement
  • The structural anatomy researches of Leonardo da Vinci
  • The patronage of Louis IX of France and Blanche of Castile

Field research:

  • United Kingdom: 2025–2026
  • Florence: 2004, 2015, 2019, 2026
  • Pisa, Pistoia, Siena: 2026
  • Paris: 2024, 2025, 2026
  • Greece, Peloponnese and Delphi: 2024
  • Mexico, Quintana Roo: 2016 Oaxaca: 2010
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Curriculum Vitae

Zach in Florence Italy, October 2025

Recent written work

Blood, milk, and tears: bodies of mothers and sons in the sculpture of Giovanni Pisano’s Pistoia pulpit

Giovanni Pisano, Pistoia Pulpit (1301), detail of Infant Christ at the Bath. Photo: Nicolò Begliomini

Dissertation, 2026, MA Art History, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Abstract

This dissertation examines Giovanni Pisano’s Pistoia pulpit (1301) through close visual analysis of three narrative scenes, the Nativity, the Massacre of the Innocents, and the Crucifixion, considered alongside thirteenth-century devotional texts and a liturgical manuscript previously unstudied alongside the Pisanos’ work. The pulpit’s figuration, naturalism…

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Giovanni Pisano, Pistoia Pulpit (1301), detail of Infant Christ at the Bath. Photo: Nicolò Begliomini

Research and writing updates

Study trip photos

Paris, 2025 and Tuscany, 2026

petit-palais
sainte-chapelle

I study the art and science of human expression.

Versatility and curiousity have driven my career interests. I have over a decade of experience in digital design at major advertising agencies in New York and Detroit. I recently studied drawing, painting, and sculpture at Grand Central Atelier in New York City.

Design – Zachary Creative

I do user experience, brand development, and marketing for luxury, retail, and real estate. Portland, Detroit, & NYC.

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Art History – Continuum

Virtual art gallery and original articles focused on the revival of early modern academic art education and training.

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Zachary J Gray Fine Art

Some of my student work in drawing, painting, and sculpture during my time at Grand Central Atelier in New York.

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Art History Blog

My recent art history research and writing.

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