I am associate professor at Amsterdam University and Program Director BA and MA Arts, Culture & Heritage Studies. I am specialised in artistic patronage, both during the Early Modern Period and in the present, with a focus on institutional patronage and collecting. My research focuses on the way art has been commissioned by patrons and the way this has (had) an impact on the meanings of these works of art, both in the iconographical sense and its impact on issues of status. From this perspective, I am working both on patronage in seventeenth-century Italy, especially the patronage of ecclesiastical patrons (Cardinals) and the functioning of religious art, and with a focus on contemporary art and the role this plays in the corporate world through art collections of commercial and non-profit organizations.