Welcome from the PhD Blogging Team!

Whether you are family or friends, a fellow compatriot in research, or simply curious about the life of a PhD student at the university, welcome! We are so glad you are here to join us for our adventures here at York!

Katherine Hinzman 

Beginning this term, I am an American PhD candidate in the History of Art under the supervision of Professor Liz Prettejohn.  Upon completing my Masters at the University of Oxford, I am continuing my work on nineteenth-century British Art, particularly that of the Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones.  Using his many drawings and designs as my primary sources, I focus on how his greater artistic project and ultimate vision of beauty 'beyond the threshold' relate to his initial education in theological thought and the exegetical structures presented by Oxford Movement leader John Henry Newman.




Claudia Wardle

Having completed my BA in Modern Languages and Cultures (Spanish and Italian) and an MA by Research at Durham University, I have come to York as a PhD candidate in the History of Art department, working with Prof Amanda Lillie. My research focusses on concepts of nature in sacred painting of fifteenth-century Ferrara. My MA thesis centred around the work of Cosmè Tura, whilst this project will expand into the other painting and illumination of the Ferrarese School, exploring non-human, 'natural' elements in scenes inspired by scriptural and hagiographical sources.

                                                                                                 

Adam Sammut

Born and raised within the M25, I studied History of Art at UCL, followed by an MA in History specialising in the Dutch Golden Age at UCL and the Courtauld Institute. After several years working in museums and archives beginning with The Royal Collection, I decided to resume my studies in the art of the Low Countries at York under the supervision of Dr Cordula van Wyhe. My project looks at the Sint-Pauluskerk in Antwerp, formally the Dominican Church, and the role of Rubens in fashioning its confessional identity in the wake of iconoclasm and Calvinist rule, integral to both Antwerp's sacred topography and the city's Catholic revival.

Hannah Tomlin

With an undergraduate degree in History and a Masters in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, both from the University of York, I am both a veteran of the university and a fledgling art historian. My research draws on my interdisciplinary background to consider the changes in Italian domestic space, architecture and furnishing over the period 1485-1700, focusing on Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Under the supervision of Professor Amanda Lillie, I will consider the relationship between domestic space, self-representation and social values.