SVAD - School of Visual Arts & Design

Dr. Margaret Ann Zaho is an Assistant Professor of Art History in the School of Visual Arts and Design and the Director of the Art History in Italy Abroad program.

Dr. Zaho earned her B.A. in Art History from U.C. Berkeley, her M.A. in Art History from Southern Methodist University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her primary areas of specialization are Italian Renaissance, Italian Baroque, and Roman Imperial Art and Architecture.

Dr. Zaho has lived and worked in Rome and in Florence, where she taught at the Institute for Fine and Liberal Arts. Dr. Zaho also worked with the Archdiocese in Florence for a program called Ars et Fides leading faith based tours of churches and chapels.

In 2004, she published her first book entitled, Imago Triumphalis: The Function and Significance of Triumphal Imagery for Italian Renaissance Rulers (Peter Lang Publishers).

Dr. Zaho is actively writing and researching several topics. She has served as a reviewer for the Art History Textbook, Art Across Time, and curated a show in conjunction with the UCF Libraries Special Collections entitled “Love, Faith, Myth: Illuminated Manuscript Facsimiles at the UCF Libraries” for which she wrote the catalog and presented a paper entitled “Illuminating Love: The Romance of the Rose”.

Her recent research projects include a paper in preparation for publication entitled “Divus Alfonsus Rex: Imperial Allusions in the Portraits of King Alfonso I of Naples” and a study of Florentine Renaissance antependiums (painted wood altar frontals) in the church of Santa Spirito.

In October of 2010 Dr. Zaho will present a pedagogical paper entitled “A Call to Refrain from Gilding the Art History Lily” at the Southeastern College Art Conference in Richmond, Virginia.

A true Italophile Dr.Zaho has a passion for all things Italian and when not pursuing her scholarly endeavors yearns for “la dolce far niente” or the sweetness of doing nothing.