His research focuses on the complex culture of the late Renaissance (c.1520-1600) and he has studied archaism and retrospection as responses to concerns about religious and social identity; more specifically, the study of ways in which artistic styles signify and make meaning. His publications include Federico Barroci. Allure and Devotion in Late Renaissance Painting (Yale, 2008). His current project is entitled, Bronzions Bodies: The Fate of Michelangelesque Art in an Age of Reform.