Allegra Davis

Allegra Davis is a first-year PhD student in Art and Architectural History at the University of Virginia, studying under the direction of Professor Sarah Betzer and Professor David Getsy. Her research currently focuses on 19th-century American sculpture in the transatlantic world, centering questions of gender, sexuality, and the reception of antiquity. 

 

Allegra holds a BA in Classics from Smith College and an MA in the History of Art & Architecture from Boston University. Her master's thesis, "The Mermaid's Cradle: Oceanic Fantasies and Queer Refuge in the Fountain Sculpture of Harriet Hosmer," examined how Hosmer's 1892 fountain originally created for Louisa, Lady Ashburton expressed queer Anglo-American women's imaginative identification with maritime themes in the context of Atlantic crossings and empire.

 

Before earning her MA, Allegra gained more than five years of curatorial experience working at historic artist's house museums. She served as Curatorial Fellow at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park from 2018-2019, and from 2019-2024 was a member of the curatorial team at Frederic Church's Olana, where her credits included the exhibition and catalogue Afterglow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory.