Joost grew up in the Netherlands and came to London to continue his education at the Courtauld Institute. In 2017, he completed his doctoral work with a thesis titled Pictorial Space and Sacred Subject Matter in Florentine Painting, 1425–1466. Trained as a historian of Renaissance art, his curatorial work at London’s National Gallery expanded his horizon, curating the exhibitions Sin (2020) and Saint Francis of Assisi (2023).

His interests lie at the crossroads of the history of art, the history of Christianity, theology, and the history of ideas. He occasionally writes on modern and contemporary art. At King’s, he is the department’s art historian, part of Professor Ben Quash’s major research project the Visual Commentary on Scripture (TheVCS.org), and teaching on the MA in Theology, Bible, and the Arts, in collaboration with the National Gallery.

Research interests

- Italian painting from the twelfth to the sixteenth century
- The Renaissance reception of patristic theology
- Saints, their visual culture, and their relics (especially Saint Francis of Assisi)
- Religion and contemporary art
- Curating exhibitions on religious subjects

Teaching

Postgraduate:
7AATC968 The Devotional Use of Art in Christianity
7AATC969 Art as a Theological Medium

Expertise and public engagement

-Trustee, Art+Christianity
-Committee Member, Higher Education Committee (HEC), Association for Art History
-Residency Jury, The Royal Drawing School

Selected publications

G. Finaldi & J. Joustra, Saint Francis of Assisi, London (National Gallery Global & Yale University Press), London, 2023. 
J. Joustra, Sin: The Art of Transgression, London (National Gallery Global & Yale University Press), London, 2020. 
J. Joustra, ‘The Virgin at the Well in Filippino’s “San Gimignano Annunciation”’, in P. Nuttall et al. (ed.), Filippino Lippi: Beauty, Invention and Intelligence, Leiden & Boston (Brill), 2020, pp. 120-151.