She was born Natalie Boymel on February 1, 1944 in Philadelphia to Pauline (née Friedman) and Jules Boymel. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965 and 1967, respectively. She went on to attend Brown University, receiving her PhD in 1976. Her thesis analyzed depictions of Roman working women in second and third century reliefs from Ostia Antica.[2] Boymel taught at the University of Rhode Island from 1969 to 1988.[3] She taught women's studies and art history at Barnard College.[4]
Kampen, Natalie Boymel; Grossman, Elizabeth Greenwell (1983). Feminism and methodology: Dynamics of change in the history of art and architecture. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women. OCLC10593656.
——— (1996). Bergmann, Bettina Ann (ed.). Sexuality in Ancient Art: Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-47683-6.
———; Molholt, Rebecca M.; Marlowe, Elizabeth (2002). What is a Man?: Changing images of masculinity in late antique art; Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, April 12 through June 17, 2002. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press. ISBN978-0-295-98269-4.
——— (2009). Family Fictions in Roman Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-58447-0.