Perkinson earned his B.A. from Colgate and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His research interests include the art of the French courts circa 1400, the illustration of secular manuscripts in the later Middle Ages and early Renaissance, and artistic interactions between Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Perkinson is the author of The Likeness of the King: The Prehistory of Portraiture in Late Medieval France. His articles have appeared in publications such as Speculum, The Art Bulletin, and Gesta, among others. Perkinson has been honored with a J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and the Humanities and a Chateaubriand Fellowship from the Embassy of France. In addition to Bowdoin College, Perkinson has taught at the University of Denver and at Skidmore College.