Dr. Blondin’s research focuses on the art and architectural patronage of Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84), best known for having ordered the construction and wall decoration of the Sistine Chapel.  She lived in Rome while conducting research for her dissertation, "Constructing History: The Visual Legacy of Pope Sixtus IV (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002)." 

In support of her research, Dr. Blondin was awarded a University Fellowship (1999-2000) and two travel grants for dissertation research (1999) from the University of Illinois.  At The University of Texas at Tyler, she has received a Junior Faculty Research Grant (2003), and the President’s Faculty/Student Research Grant (2004). 

In 2005, Dr. Blondin published “Power Made Visible: Sixtus IV as Urbis Renovator in Quattrocento Rome,” an article that focuses on Sixtus IV’s patronage in Rome from the perspective of his urban renovation.  Another article, “Pope Sixtus IV at Assisi: The Promotion of Papal Power,” examines Sixtus IV’s artistic projects in Assisi and will be published in Patronage and Dynasty: The Rise of the Della Rovere in the Italian Renaissance.  Additionally she has presented numerous conference papers on the art and architectural commissions of Sixtus IV.  All of this work forms the foundation of the manuscript that Dr. Blondin is writing on the pope’s patronage.

Articles
“Power Made Visible: Pope Sixtus IV as Urbis Restaurator in Quattrocento Rome,” The Catholic Historical Review, 91 (January 2005): 1–25.

“Pope Sixtus IV at Assisi: The Promotion of Papal Power,” in Patronage and Dynasty: The Rise of the Della Rovere in the Italian Renaissance, ed. Ian Verstegen, Kirksville, MO: Sixteenth Century Studies/Truman State Press, in press.

Catalogues/Conference Proceedings
“Pope Sixtus IV as (Patron) Saint: The Tomb of the Pope’s Parents in Savona,” in Constructions of Death, Mourning, and Memory: Proceedings of the WAPACC Organization, eds. Lilian Zirpolo and Joanna Gardner-Huggett, 2006.

Slow Down: Contemporary Abstraction in Chicago (co-editor). Exh. cat., the Meadows Gallery at The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, 2005.

“Madonna and Child with Two Saints by the Workshop of Neroccio de’Landi and Portrait of Marco Foscari by Moretto da Brescia.” Selections from the Krannert Art Museum Collection.  Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL, forthcoming.

Catalogue entries,The Ziff Collection of Old Master and Nineteenth–Century Drawings.  exh. cat., Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL, 1999.

“Elephant Mask and African–American Lap Apron.”  Transformations/Translations: African Art from the Krannert Art Museum Collection.  exh. cat., Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL, 1994: 5–6.

Encyclopedia/Dictionary Entries
“Assisi,” ”Bernardo Daddi,” “Grisaille,” “Maso di Banco,” Nanni di Banco,” “Paliotto.” The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Robert E. Bjork. Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

“Sixtus IV (1471–1484),” in Great Lives from History: 1454–1600, ed. Christina J. Moose.  Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2005: 893–95.

Conference Presentations

National
Exploring the Renaissance: An International Conference, San Antonio, TX, March 2007
Paper: “Shelter from the Storm: S. Maria del Buon Aiuto in Rome”

Constructions of Death, Mourning, and Memory, Woodcliff Lake, NJ, October 2006
Paper: “Sixtus IV as (Patron) Saint: The Tomb of the Pope’s Parents in Savona”

Renaissance Society of America, New York City, April 2004 Paper: “A Vision at the Hospital of Santo pirito”

Exploring the Renaissance: An International Conference, New Orleans, March 2003
Paper: “Power Made Visible: Pope Sixtus IV as Urbis Restaurator in Quattrocento Rome”

Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Atlanta, GA, October 1997
Midwest Art History Society Conference, Cleveland, OH, March 1996
Paper: “The Lady is Not a Tramp: Parmigianino’s Portrait of a Young Woman”

Regional
Center for Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Symposium, The University of Texas at Tyler, March 2005
Panel Chairperson: Medieval and Renaissance Art History
Paper: “The Sistine Chapel and Dynastic Ambition”

Texas Association of Schools of Art, San Antonio, TX, April 2003
Paper: “Building on a Legacy: The Influence of Pope Sixtus IV on Pope Julius II”

Illinois History Symposium, Springfield, IL, December 1996
Paper: “Cultural Regionalism: African–American Quilts in Illinois”

Midwest Art History Society Conference, St. Louis, MO, March 1995
Paper: “The African–American Quilt Experience as Cultural Regionalism”

Art History Graduate Student Competition, University of Illinois, February 1994
Paper: “Problems in the Interpretations of Giorgione’s Laura”

Evan Lilly Lecture Graduate Student Competition, Bloomington, IN, April 1992
Paper: “Jasper Cropsey’s American Harvesting”

Guest Lectures
“Sistine Chapels: Pope Sixtus IV’s Funerary Monuments in Rome and Savona” for The University of Texas at Tyler, October 2005

“Assisi and Beyond: Pope Sixtus IV and the Franciscans” for The University of Texas at Tyler, February 2005

“Pope Sixtus IV at Assisi: The Promotion of Papal Power” for The University of Texas at Tyler, September 2003

Lecture on Enactment of Selves (an exhibition of work by The University of Texas at Tyler Department of Art Faculty) for the Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas, May 2003

“The Jubilee of 1475” for the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, AR, February 2001

“Pope Sixtus IV and the 1475 Jubilee” for the University of Dallas, Rome, Italy, April 2000