Blakesley was educated at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Moscow. She is now Professor of Russian and European Art at the University of Cambridge, and is a Fellow of Pembroke College where she is also Director of Studies for History of Art. Blakesley is a co-founder of the Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre. She has curated and contributed to catalogues of exhibitions around the world, and has served on the board of the National Portrait Gallery among other institutions.