Sin and Self-Reflection: The Iconography and Viewership of ‘Morality Images’ in English Wall Painting, c.1300-1450
Supervisor: Dr Jessica Barker Advisors: Professor Alixe Bovey and Dr Jane Spooner
Funded by Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South-East England (CHASE) with support from the Garfield Weston Foundation
My research focuses on the rise of ‘morality’ wall paintings in England in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with the aim of revaluating how sin was understood during this period. These paintings, which include subjects such as the Warning to the Gossipers and the Seven Deadly Sins, are most often located in rural churches, and their inaccessibility and often poorly preserved condition means this rich corpus of medieval works of art has been overlooked. The lack of scholarly and public awareness means they are quickly crumbling from the walls due to a lack of funding for their proper preservation and conservation. They are therefore in urgent need of proper record and study.
Led by visual and textual analysis, my thesis focuses on this rich but overlooked corpus of medieval works of art to examine the notion of ‘sin’ and the ways in which people conceptualise emotions and behaviour. The wall paintings’ monumental scale and diagrammatic form reveal an innovative use of imagery to show the theological, sociological, and even medical origins of sin. I focus on particular examples, such as the paintings at Trotton, Peakirk, and Longthorpe Tower, to help reconsider the artistic and conceptual inventiveness of wall paintings at this time. By reevaluating the patronage of these paintings, I aim to examine the shared emotional codes and standards of the period. The paintings reveal a complex cognitive and moral landscape of the late Middle Ages as well as evidence of changing attitudes to sin and regulations of thought, behaviour, and memory that urgently need interpreting.
Education
2021-present: PhD, The Courtauld Institute of Art
2020-2021: MSt Medieval Studies, University of Oxford
2017-2020: BA (Hons.) History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art
Research Grants, Scholarships, and Awards
2021-Present: AHRC Doctoral Studentship, Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South-East England
2020-2021: Clarendon Scholarship, University of Oxford
2020: The Sam Fogg Dissertation Prize, The Courtauld Institute of Art: ‘The Late-Medieval Last Judgement Wall-Painting at Trotton’
Research Interests
- English and European Wall Painting, 1200-1500
- The Relationship between English and Scandinavian Wall Painting, 1200-1500
- Evaluating the visual as a historical source for social history
- The history of emotions, behaviour, and psychology
- The history of sin and morality, and medieval theories of conscience
- Gesture and facial expression
- Lay patronage
Other Academic Activity
Founder and Co-convenor with Katharine Waldron (University of Oxford and Hamilton Kerr Institute), Medieval Wall Paintings Group
Doctoral Placement, Project for visitor interpretation: ‘Viewing the Medieval Wall Paintings at Canterbury’, Archives, Canterbury Cathedral (May-August 2023)
Reviews Editor: Immediations Postgraduate Journal (2022 and 2023)
Postgraduate Assistant: National Wall Paintings Survey Project (2022)
Conferences, Workshops, & Talks
‘Charitable Salvation: Morality and Identity in the Wall Paintings at Trotton’, British Archaeological Association, Chichester Conference, 4-8th September 2023
Sole organiser, ‘Researching Medieval Wall Paintings’ Workshop, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 17 May 2023 – won CHASE funding (Paper given: ‘Conservation, Copies, and Conundrums: The Wall Paintings at Corby Glen, Lincolnshire’)
‘The Iconography and Viewership of ‘Morality Images’ in English Wall Painting, c.1300-1450’, 2nd Year Medieval Symposium, Courtauld Institute of Art, 2nd May 2023
‘Sin and Salvation: The Wall Paintings at Trotton’, Trotton Study Day, The Monumental Brass Society, 16th October 2022
’Emotion and Embodiment in the Lay Experience of the Seven Deadly Sins, 1350-1530’, Medieval Church and Culture Seminar, University of Oxford, 11th May 2021
Teaching
Teaching Assistant, BA2 Physical Histories, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Autumn 2023
Teaching Assistant, Summer University, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Summer 2023