ARTES CEEH Scholars 2020

ARTES and CEEH are delighted to announce the first ever ARTES CEEH Scholars! Out of many excellent applications, we are very pleased to make the following four awards:

Scholarship for a PhD student in the UK (£3000)

Carter Lyon (University of Glasgow)

Title: Spanish Golden Age Art Theory in Practice: A case study of Vicente Carducho’s Self Portrait in the collection of Sir William Stirling Maxwell

Supervisors: Dr Mark Richter and Dr Hilary Macartney

My research concerns the relationship between art theory and artistic practice in the Spanish Golden Age as evidenced in the works of the scholar-artist Vicente Carducho (1568-1638). At the core of my project are Carducho’s Self Portrait (c. 1633-38, Glasgow Museums) and his treatise Diálogos de la Pintura (1633). Adopting a technical art history methodology, I have conducted a technical study of Self Portrait that I will interpret in light of Carducho’s presentation of painting as a liberal art and his proposals for its practice. Consideration of Carducho’s professional activities and contemporary Spanish paintings and treatises will inform my analysis.

 

 

 

Scholarship for a PhD/post-doc student in Spain (£3000)

Alexandra Millón Maté (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

Title: “Fancy pictures”? The British Reception of Murillo, 1650-1900

Supervisors: Professor Felipe Pereda Espeso (Harvard University) and Dr. María Cruz de Carlos Varona (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid).

The main purpose of this interdisciplinary project is to study the reception of genre painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Seville, 1617-1682) in the United Kingdom between 1650 and 1900. It is a project dedicated to one of the fundamental chapters of my doctoral thesis registered at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. To carry out this project, it is necessary to reside in London for at least 6-8 weeks to have daily access to the National Gallery Archive, the British Library, the City of London Archive, the Royal Academy Archive, the Tate Gallery Archive and Dulwich Picture Gallery Archive.

In the same way, it will be very important for my work to have a longer access to the archives of Nigel Glendinning and Enriqueta Harris both at the Warburg Institute and at the University of London, as well as the collection and auction documentation area of The Courtauld Institute of Arts. Exceptionally, this project also includes some trips to other nearby cities to continue documentation work at Bedforshire Archives, Dyrham Park and Kingston Lacy, and just one more trip to Scotland. In Edinburgh I will visit the Spanish collection of the Scottish National Gallery and consult the documentary section dedicated to Murillo in his library and, in Glasgow, I will visit the collection of Sir William Stirling Maxwell at Pollok House.

ARTES CEEH Travel Scholarships (£1000 each)

Victoria Rasbridge (University College London)

Title: Intersecting Identities: Troubled and Troubling Representations of Queenship on the Early Modern Spanish Stage

Supervisor: Dr Alexander Samson

I plan to spend eight days in Almagro in early July, sufficient time to attend the three-day AHCT conference, explore the archives, and attend a variety of performances. Specifically, in the Museo Nacional de Teatro, I will examine the ‘Genealogía’ of the ‘Cofradía de la Novena’ manuscript found in the ‘archivo documental’. Its collection of members’ personal anecdotes pertaining to specific performances and roles will grant new insight into how visual representations and staged performances of queenship were adapted for different audiences in different spaces. Moreover, the unique opportunity to view the comedia in its original setting will allow me to experience first-hand how performance and staging have been adapted to the physical space of the corral and, in turn, how that space dictated or prevented specific staging choices.

Following this, I intend to spend a further ten days in Madrid dividing my time between the Real Biblioteca and the BNE. Firstly, in the Real Biblioteca, I will investigate the numerous comedia manuscripts and personal correspondence detailing royal reactions to performances held in its ‘Conde de Gondomar’ collection. Secondly, in the BNE, I will consult the extensive ‘Teatro’ collection, particularly interesting for its copy of Calderón de la Barca’s ‘Triunfar muriendo’ and a rare 48-volume series of comedias (1652-1704). Using these materials, I will examine marginal annotations to uncover how important scenes have been staged and enacted.

 

Sarah Slingluff (University of Edinburgh)

Title: Material Culture of the Arab/Berber Conquest: Excavations at the fortress of Zorita Castle and Surveying the Museums of the thaghr al-awsaṭ

Supervisor: Dr Glaire Anderson

I intend to conduct research this July at Zorita Castle in order to discover the ways in which those who led the Arab/Berber conquest of the Iberian Peninsula lived. In addition to the excavation, I will document holdings of museums in Castile La Mancha, Extremadura, and Madrid relating to life in Islamic Spain. This research allows a comparison of early medieval elite and non-elite experiences in central Spain.

This work will support my doctoral thesis on both the life of non-elite peoples in early medieval Spain, but also on the ways that this experience is represented in Spanish institutions.