Carole Nataf is an art historian of early modern France. Her research examines how paintings, decorative objects, and interiors participated in the production of knowledge of the natural world and imperial power. Her work explores the intersections between histories of decoration, natural science, and global exchange. She is currently working on her book manuscript, Rococo Enlightenment: Art, Decoration, and the Natural Sciences in Eighteenth-Century France and its Empire. It argues that although criticized by its detractors as frivolous, pleasure-oriented, and idle, the Rococo played a significant role in the making and dissemination of scientific culture in the period.

Nataf received her PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art (2025), where she also served as an Associate Lecturer. Prior to that, she was a visiting PhD at MIT's Department of Architecture (History, Theory and Criticism group) and held curatorial and research roles at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury. 

Her research was recognized with the Mary D. Sheriff Research and Travel Prize (2026), the Dora Wiebenson Prize (2023) and the Mary Vidal Award (2022). Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies and has been supported by fellowships from the Clark Library/UCLA Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Paul Mellon Centre, the Decorative Arts Trust, and the Oak Spring Garden Foundation.