Joseph Hammond is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts and Art History at the American University of Beirut. He earned his PhD at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, worked at the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (Washington DC), and held fellowships at the University of Toronto’s Center for Reformation and Renaissance Studies and British School in Rome. His research on the art of the Italian Renaissance has focused on the function of altarpieces, portraiture and other topics.