Alina Cui

Alina Cui studies medieval and early modern Spanish art and its connections to northern Europe, especially the Low Countries. Her research spans painting, sculpture, and manuscripts, tied together by an interest in the visual environment cultivated by Spanish queens and their retinue. 

Before coming to Harvard, she received a BA in Art History and Mathematics from the University of Chicago and an MA in Art History from Hunter College. Her master's thesis, "Isabel I of Castile and Her Portapaz: A Queenly Expression of Sovereignty, Legacy, and Piety," proposes that Pedro Vigil's Gothic Pax feminizes iconography from Rogier van der Weyden's Miraflores Altarpiece as a reflection of its patron. In a past life, she worked in business and product management in the technology industry.