Dr Tom Nickson

Reader in Medieval Art & Architecture

My research and teaching fall broadly into two categories: Gothic art and architecture across Europe, especially in England and Iberia, and encounters between Christian, Islamic and Jewish traditions. Many of these issues were addressed in my first book, (2015), and I am now working on a new book, Architecture in Medieval Spain & Portugal: Seven Moments, which will explore architecture across the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain, Portugal and al-Andalus) from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. I am also interested in questions of architecture, light and the environment, and in technologies of reproduction in the 19th century – the focus of a small exhibition I curated in 91影视 Gallery in 2024/5.

Teaching

MA:

BA:

  • 鈥楶ower and Piety: Medieval Westminster鈥� (BA1)
  • 鈥楩acsimile Debates: AI to Plato鈥� (BA2)
  • 鈥楢rt & Identities in Medieval Spain鈥� (BA3)

PhD Supervision

I welcome applications from prospective PhD students and advise you to contact me as early as possible in the application process (ideally before November, to begin the following October)

Current

  • Jonah Schultz, ‘Architecture and Ecology in Medieval England and France’.
  • Ekaterina Yakushkina, ‘Nasrid/Mamluk connections’ (with Meredyth Winter)
  • Natalia Mu帽oz Rojas, ‘Women, new churches, and the conquest of Granada’
  • Sophia Dumoulin, ‘A Subversive History of England’s National Church: Westminster Abbey, 1399-1603’
  • Ricardo Mandelbaum, ‘Ramon Lull’s Visual Culture: Intersections between Art, Architecture and Lullism in Catalonia, Paris, Montpellier and Mallorca in the late 13th and 14th centuries’

 

Completed

  • Jane Stewart, 鈥楾he monument to Sir James Hales (d. 1589) in Canterbury Cathedral鈥� (2025).
  • , 鈥楯uan Guas and Gothic Architecture in Late Medieval Spain: Collaborations, Networks, Geographies鈥� (2020)
  • , 鈥楾he Altar in Medieval Castile: a Social and Material History鈥� (2018)
  • , 鈥楧ecorative Vaults in Fourteenth-Century England鈥� (2016)
  • , 鈥楾he Lost Romanesque Cathedral of Tortosa (Catalonia)鈥� (2016)

Research interests

  • The spread of Gothic architecture in medieval Europe and technologies of architectural transmission.
  • Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, especially Iberia and England.
  • 19th鈥� and 20th-century architectural criticism and revivalism.
  • The cult of Thomas Becket.
  • Church furnishings and inventories.
  • Epigraphy and orality in Christian and Islamic contexts.
  • The reception of Islamic art and architecture in medieval Europe.
  • Architecture and light.
  • Architecture and ecology.
  • Antiquarianism in Early Modern Spain and England.
  • Photography, plaster casts, and technologies of reproduction in the 19th century.

Lecture recordings:

Recent publications

Books and edited books

  • Gothic Architecture in Spain: Invention and听Imitation, eds T. Nickson and N. Jennings, Courtauld Books Online, 2020.
  • , ed. T. Nickson. Special issue of the听Journal of the British Archaeological Association听(2020)
  • . Penn State University Press, 2015.
  • 鈥樷��. Special issue of the听Hispanic Research Journal, eds T. Nickson, M. Trusted and J. Schrader,听16: 5听(October 2015).
  • 听eds T. Nickson and K. Donahue-Wallace. Special 2012 issue of the听Hispanic Research Journal, with papers from a conference organised in York in July 2011.

Essays and articles

  • ‘‘, in Primada. VIII Centenario de la Catedral de Toledo, ed. J. Mart铆nez de Aguirre, Fundaci贸n Impulsa, 2026
  • ‘‘, in听Medieval Treasures of Toledo Cathedral: Artworks, Relics, Texts and Textiles, ed. T. Martin, Brill, 2026.
  • ‘Art, Devotion and Society in 14th-Century Burgos: St Catherine鈥檚 Chapel Portal in the Cathedral鈥檚 Cloister’, in , ed. J. Walter, S.听M眉ller-Bechtel, and P. Heinrich Jahn, Michael Imhof, 2025.
  • ‘Durham and Islam: The Fortunes of a Theory’, in听, 178 (2025).
  • ‘The Names of God: Art, Power, and Ritual in Medieval C贸rdoba’, in , ed. P. A. Patton, Penn State University Press, 2024.
  • ‘‘, in听The Routledge Companion to the Global Renaissance, eds S. Campbell and S. Porras, Routledge, 2024.
  • ‘‘, in El mundo de las catedrales: Pasado, presente y futuro. Actas del Congreso Internacional VIII Centenario Catedral de Burgos, ed. Carlos Izquierdo Yusta et al, 2022, pp. 653-661
  • 鈥�The Parish Church Illuminated鈥�, in听Towards an Art History of the Parish Church, 1200-1399, ed. M. Bernstein, Courtauld Books Online, 2021.
  • ‘‘, in听Revista de Poetica Medieval, 35 (2021).
  • 鈥楧escribing Architecture in Thirteenth-Century Spain鈥�, in听, ed. J. Luxford, 2021
  • 听to听, ed. T. Nickson. Special issue of the听Journal of the British Archaeological Association听(2020)
  • , in听Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 173 (2020), 78-99.
  • 鈥楪othic Architecture in Spain: Invention and Imitation鈥�, introductory essay in听Gothic Architecture in Spain: Invention and Imitation, eds T. Nickson and N. Jennings, Courtauld Books Online, 2020.
  • , in听Beauty and Persuasion in Medieval Art听(special issue of听Codex Aquilarensis, 35, 2019), 139-156.
  • ,听Oxford Bibliographies Online听(2019).
  • (with Almudena Cros), 鈥楥onstructing Pardon in Medieval Toledo鈥�.听Medieval Studies in Honour of Peter Linehan, eds F. Hern谩ndez, R. S谩nchez Ameijeiras and E. Falque (2018), 493-522.
  • 鈥樷��.听Resounding Images: Medieval Intersections of Art, Music, and Sound, eds S. Boynton and D. Reilly听(2015), 91-107.
  • 鈥樷��.听Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World, ed. A. Eastmond (2015), 170-186.
  • 鈥樷��,听Art History听38: 5 (2015), 838-61.
  • .听Art in Translation听7: 1 (2015): 9-38
  • 鈥樷��.听The Medieval History Journal听15, no. 2 (2012): 319鈥�354.
  • 鈥樷��.听The Hebrew Bible in the Fifteenth Century: Exegesis, Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts, eds J. Decter and A. Prats (2012): 41鈥�60.
  • . In听Gesta听50, no. 1 (2011): 71鈥�89.
  • 听Spiritual Temporalities in Late-Medieval Europe, ed. M. Foster (2010): 99鈥�126.
  • .听La Catedral Primada de Toledo, ed. R. Gonz谩lvez (2010): 148鈥�161.
  • .听Immediations听2, no. 2 (2009): 19鈥�29.
  • 鈥樷��.听Zeitschrift f眉r Kunstgeschichte听72, no. 1 (2009): 1鈥�14.
  • 鈥樷��.听Architectural History听48 (2005): 49鈥�68

Reviews

  • In the Italian Manner. Spain and the Mediterranean Gothic 1320-1420, Prado Museum, 2026, in听Burlington Magazine, 168, 2026
  • J
  • , in听Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 2021
  • 听in听Arts听(2021)
  • Rose Walker,听Art in Spain and Portugal from the Romans to the Early Middle Ages. Routes and Myths, in听, 170, 2017, pp. 210-212.
  • Paul Binski,听Gothic Wonder: Art, Artifice and the Decorated Style,听1290-1350, in听, 39: 1, 2016, pp. 152-155.
  • Jacqueline Jung,听The Gothic Choir Screen, in听, 14.1, 2014, pp. 139-141.
  • Pamela Patton,听Art of Estrangement. Redefining Jews in Conquest Spain, in听, 8.1, 2013.
  • Christabel Watson,听The Romanesque Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela: A Reassessment, in听, 163, 2010, pp. 182-185.

Citations