Dr. Feltman is a specialist in the art and architecture of medieval Europe whose research focuses on Gothic sculptural programs. She is especially interested in the question of how we can understand the development of complex image programs in architectural sculpture in the absence of primary textual sources. To engage this question, she works across the disciplines of religious studies, the history of the clergy, manuscript studies, and technical studies of construction.

Her forthcoming book, Moral Theology and the Cathedral: Sculptural Programs of the Last Judgment in France, c.1200-1240 (Brepols), provides new insight into the design and development of major Last Judgment sculptural programs at the Cathedrals of Chartres, Paris, Reims, and Amiens. The book and its companion website were supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Previous publications have considered the development of medieval art and architecture over time, including her edited book, The North Transept of Reims Cathedral: Design, Construction, and Visual Programs (Routledge, 2016), and co-edited book, The Long Lives of Medieval Art and Architecture (Routledge, 2019).

Feltman’s current research uses 3D modeling to examine the layers of paint (polychromy) on the sculptures of the Last Judgment portal of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. She is conducting this work as a member of the Chantier scientifique de Notre Dame, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), a team of scientists and historians authorized by the Ministère de la Culture to study the fire-ravaged cathedral as it is being restored. With a seed grant from the Whiting Foundation, Feltman is currently directing the development of a Virtual Reality app for the Oculus Quest. Designed for ages 13 and up, this app will allow individuals to discover elements of Gothic architecture through exploration and make it possible to experience the scale of Gothic architecture no matter where one lives. Read more news about Dr. Feltman here.

Her research and teaching have been supported by the NEH, the FACE Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the Kress Foundation, the Medieval Academy of America, the International Center for Medieval Art, and the Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Technology, Science, and Art (AVISTA).

Courses Taught

• ARH 252 Survey of Art I
• ARH 350 Roman Art
• ARH 351 Ancient Art
• ARH 352 Early Christian and Byzantine Art
• ARH 359 Medieval Art, Europe, and the US
• ARH 360 Early Medieval
• ARH 361 Late Medieval Art
• ARH 461 Special Topics in Medieval Art (topics include: Gothic Cathedrals; Medieval Sculpture; Arts of the Medieval Book)
• ARH 560 Graduate Seminars in Medieval Art (topics include: Visual Thinking in Medieval Art; Medieval Sculpture)
• ARH 550 Literature of Art (i.e., Methods)

Select Publications

• Forthcoming (in press): Moral Theology and the Cathedral: Sculptural Programs of the Last Judgment in France, c.1200-1240 (Brepols).
• J.M. Feltman, C. Besnier, S. Duchêne, and L. Beck, “A Gothic head at the Nasher Museum of Art from the ‘jubé‘ of Notre-Dame, Paris.” Burlington Magazine (November 2026, no. 1484): 1040–49.
• “The North Transept Portals of the Cathedral of Reims as Palimpsest.” In Facciate Palinsesto. L’arte medievali nei processi di transformazione urbana e architettonica, edited by Laura Cavazzini and Paola Vitolo, 23-34. Rome: Officina Libraria, 2026.
• “The Limestone Sculpture Provenance Project and the Study of Gothic Architectural Sculpture in America.” In American Gothic: Reflections on Gothic Architectural Scholarship in America, 1925–2025, edited by Robert Bork. Leiden: Brill, 2025, pp. 268-294.
• “Une tête du jubé de Notre-Dame au Nasher Museum?”Dossiers d’Archéologie n °47 (December 2024): 44–45.
• “The Afflicted Body of Job and the Aesthetic of Wholeness in Gothic Sculpture.” In The Routledge Companion to Art and Disability, edited by Timothy Hiles and Keri Watson, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 149-167.
• “Tradition and Innovation in the Life of John Sculptural Cycle at Reims Cathedral.” In Crossing Medieval Disciplines: Tributes in Honor of Richard K. Emmerson, edited by Deirdre Carter, Elina Gertsman, and Karlyn Griffith. Turnhout: Harvey Milller / Brepols, 2021, pp. 155-172.
• “Dating Reuse: The Statue Columns of the Last Judgment Portal of Reims Cathedral.” In La Città Palinsesto. Tracce, sguardi e narrazioni sulla complessità dei contesti urbani storici. Memorie, storie, immagini, 2 vols., edited by Francesca Capano and Massimo Visone. Napoli: CIRICE-FED OA Press, 2020, pp. 1:1403-1410.
• “Aligning Word and Deed: The Emergence of ‘Confessor’ as a Priest Who Hears Confession.” In Les Mots au Moyen Âge / Words in the Middle Ages, edited by Vincent Debiais and Victoria Turner. Turnhout: Brepols, 2020, pp. 109-130.
• Jennifer M. Feltman and Sarah Thompson eds., The Long Lives of Medieval Art and Architecture (Routledge, 2019) with contribution: “Why the Long Lives of Medieval Art and Architecture?: An Introduction,” pp. 1-14.
• “The Last Judgement Porch at Lincoln Cathedral Over the Longue Durée: Iconography, Interaction, and Religious Thought” in Devotional Interaction in Medieval Britain and its Afterlives, edited by Elisa A. Foster, Julia Perratorre, and Steven Rosenski. Leiden: Brill, 2018, pp. 103-126.
• “Imagining the Sorrows of Death and the Pains of Hell in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves.” In Binding the Absent Body in Medieval and Modern Art: Abject, Virtual, and Alternate Bodies, edited by Emily Kelley and Elizabeth Richards Rivenbark. New York: Routledge, 2017, pp. 111-132.
• Jennifer M. Feltman, ed. The North Transept of Reims Cathedral: Design, Construction, and Visual Programs (Routledge, 2016) with contributions: “Introduction,” pp. 1-11; and “Royal and Clerical Iconography and the Chronology of the Last Judgment Portal at Reims Cathedral,” pp. 115-39.
• “Charlemagne’s Sin, the Last Judgment, and the New Theology of Penance at Chartres.” Studies in Iconography 35 (2014): 121-64.
• “Inscribing Order: The Didactic Function of The Walters Art Museum MS 73.” Athanor 25 (2007): 7-15.

To download certain publications, visit https://crimson.academia.edu/JenniferFeltman

Digital Projects

• Notre-Dame in Color
• VR Cathedral for Education
• The Lordship and Commune Project, A Collaboratory
• Portals of the Last Judgment

Recent and Upcoming Presentations

• “La polychromie, la sculpture et leur restitution visuelle,” Institut Catholique de Paris, Paris, France, March 23, 2026
• “New Discoveries and the Rebirth of Notre-Dame, Crossed Perspectives,” Maison Française – Villa Albertine, Embassy of France in the United States, Washington, DC, December 1, 2025
• “Gothic Sculpture in America,” Alliance Française de Birmingham Lecture Series, Samford University, Hoover, AL, October 5, 2025
• “The Notre-Dame in Color Project,” Museum Talk: Notre-Dame – Restoring a Masterpiece, Villa Albertine (French Embassy in the US), Payne Whitney Mansion, 972 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10075, June 24, 2025
• “Parisian Moral Theology and the Last Judgment: Portal Sculptures as 3D Visual Exegesis,” keynote lecture, The O’Brian Undergraduate Conference on Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Rice University, Houston, TX, April 12, 2025
• “Rebuilding Notre-Dame ‘All Together,’” concluding lecture in the series “Notre-Dame a Wider World” organized by Archaeology Now, Houston in partnership with the Consulat Général de France à Houston, Villa Albertine, Cathédral Notre-Dame de Paris, Alliance Français de Houston, Hulspeth Auditorium, Rice University, April 10, 2025
• “Fragments from Gothic Choir Screen of the Cathedral of Chartres Dispersed in the United States,” online lecture, The American Friends of Chartres, 1000 Years of Chartres Lecture Series, March 27, 2025
• “Notre-Dame de Paris: Restoration and New Discoveries,” keynote lecture, French Connexions Centré d’excellence, Colloquium on the Notre Dame Restoration, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, November 12, 2024
• “Notre-Dame de Paris: Restoration, Research, and the Reopening,” Alliance Française de Birmingham Lecture Series, Samford University, Hoover, Alabama, September 13, 2024
• “Is the Restoration of Notre-Dame Authentic? Historicity, Technologies, and Expectations,” Medieval Studies Lecture Series, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, September 6, 2024
• “From Analog to Digital: A Prototype for Visualizing the Layered Polychromy of the Sculptures of Notre Dame,” co-presented with Jeremiah Stager, International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 10, 2024
• “Une étude des effets visuels de la polychromie en couches: le cas du prophète sur la façade ouest de Notre-Dame de Paris,” poster presentation, Colloque de la Chantier scientifique de Notre-Dame, École de Chaillot, Paris, France, April 22-24, 2024
• “Rebuilding Notre-Dame: Five Years of Restoration and Discovery,” lecture for UCF Celebrates the Arts, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Orlando, FL, April 11, 2024
• “VR Cathedral for Meta Quest,” 99th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Univ. of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, March 16, 2024

• “Gothic Sculpture in America,” Alliance Française de Birmingham Lecture Series, Samford University, Hoover, AL, October 5, 2025

Grants and Awards

• Frederick Moody Blackmon and Sarah McCorkle Moody Outstanding Professor Award (2025)
• J. Frank Barefield, Jr. College of Arts & Sciences, Leadership Board Faculty Fellow (2025–2028)
• 2025 Florida State University, Professional Achievement Award
• National Endowment for the Humanities, Level III, Collaborative Research Grant 2023-2026
• UA President’s Research Award – Mid-Career Scholar, Arts and Humanities 2023
• UA Office of Research and Economic Development, RGC Grant 2023
• FACE Foundation Transatlantic Research Partnership 2022
• ICMA-Kress Research and Publication Grant 2021
• Whiting Foundation Public Engagement Seed Grant 2020
• UA Office of Research and Development Small Grant 2020
• UA College of Arts and Sciences CARSCA Grant 2018
• SEC Faculty Travel Grant 2017-2018
• UA Research and Grants Committee – Level 1 Grant 2017
• National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend 2015
• National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar (York, UK) 2014
• Medieval Academy of America Travel Grant 2013

Service to the Profession

• Co-Director, Limestone Sculpture Provenance Project
• International Center of Medieval Art, The Cloisters: Board of Directors (2019-2022); Chair, Advocacy Committee (2021-2024)
• Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Technology, Science and Art (AVISTA): Board of Directors (2014- ); Publications Director (2016- )
• Series Editor, AVISTA Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Art, Brill Publishing, Leiden, The Netherlands