Shimmering Death: Golden Bodies and Representing the Dead in Medieval Europe c. 1100-1400
Supervised by Dr Jessica Barker
Advised by Dr Tom Nickson
Funded by
My project explores the metal bodies of saintly and non-saintly dead by examining reliquary busts and effigies produced in the Holy Roman Empire. United by their commemorative function as sculptures of the dead, it offers a re-evaluation of these objects in light of their shared materiality and spatial dialogues. Focusing on three case studies of effigies dating from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries in Magdeburg, Cologne, and Augsburg, I investigate how these monuments interact with reliquary busts and other metal objects, such as bronze portals, within their ecclesiastical environments. In doing so, I seek to challenge restrictive categorisations of these object types (sacred vs. non-sacred) in favour of a more inclusive corpus of sculptures of the dead. Key concepts that guide my research include materiality, identity, and embodied experience.
Education:
2021-2022: Warburg Institute, MA (first class) in Art History, Curatorship and Renaissance Culture (in collaboration with National Gallery, London), Thesis: Experiencing Medieval Limousin Gilt-Copper Effigies: Implications of Material, Visual and Spatial Links with Head Reliquaries.
2018-2021: Northeastern University (New College of the Humanities), BA (first class) in Art History and Philosophy, Thesis: Reliquary Busts of the Ursula Virgins from the mid-14th century and their Significance for Women in Medieval Cologne.
Doctoral Fellowships, Grants and Awards:
CHASE Doctoral Training Award, awarded by the Consortium of the Humanities and the Arts Southeast England (CHASE) for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), 2023 – 2027.
Visiting PhD Programme, University of Vienna, supervised by Dr Sandra Hindriks, October 2024 – April 2025.
Student Scholarship BAA Conference ‘Košice: Medieval Art and Architecture in Eastern Slovakia’, July 2022.
New College of the Humanities (Northeastern University), Art History Prize 2019.
Conference Papers:
24 Sept 2026, Forum Kunst des Mittelalter, ‘Dialogues between Goldsmiths and Redsmiths in Medieval Augsburg: Working across Metal’, Bochum, Germany.
30 May 2026, Courtauld Third Year PhD Symposium, ‘Transience and Permanence: The Effigy of Wolfhard of Roth (d. 1302) and the Material Paradox of Death in Metal’, London, UK.
1 May 2025, Courtauld Second Year PhD Symposium, ‘·¡°ù²õ²¹³Ù³ú°ìö°ù±è±ð°ù in Metal: Episcopal Effigies and Reliquaries in Magdeburg Cathedral’, London, UK.
28 Nov 2024, ‘Reconsidering the Effigy of Archbishop Konrad of Hochstaden (d. 1261): Pathways of Metal Bodies in Cologne Cathedral’ (online).
Publications:
Exhibition review ‘, Burlington Magazine, Dec 2024, pp. 1241-1243.
Exhibition catalogue review , Burlington Magazine, Sept 2023, pp. 1025 – 1027.
Exhibition introductory essay for ‘, Sam Fogg Gallery, 3 Nov – 2 Dec 2022, pp. 1-7.
Research Interests:
- Medieval sculpture (especially metalwork)
- Cult of saints & devotional practices
- Reliquaries & relics
- Materiality
- Curatorship
