Thesis: Tapestries on the Altar: Considering their Facture and Purpose in Fifteenth Century Europe
Supervisor: Professor Susie Nash
Funded by Consortium of the Humanities and the Arts South-East England
My research investigates the small tapestries made for use on altars, most often at specific festivals. The Low Countries were renowned for their tapestries in the Fifteenth Century, of which the tapestry altarpieces were the most intensely rich in detail, material and meaning. My project is the first systematic study of this object type. Focusing on design I explore how tapestry cartoon makers, weavers, dyers and theologians cooperated to represent imagery in this medium, often with a nod to its specificity and self-awareness. I ask how the medium mediated the meaning of the iconography and informed the viewers engagement. The fragmentary survival of these tapestries has led them to be overlooked. My research collates other source types including theological treatise, inventories, and other object types to recover their lost meaning.
Education
2020 – 2025 (ongoing): PhD, The Courtauld Institute of Art
2013 – 2018: Fine Art MA, Edinburgh University, First Class Honours
Teaching
Spring term 2025: Associate Lecturer for BA1 Topics course Sensory Encounters with Dress and Textiles, The Courtauld Institute of Art.
Autumn term 2021: Teaching Assistant and Teaching Coordinator, for Foundations BA1, The Courtauld Institute of Art.
Conference Papers
- ‘The priest wove four coloured threads with gold’, the design and use of the Living Water tapestry altarpiece, 1485. II Encuentro de Arte y Liturgia. Velum templi. Mostrar y ocultar lo sagrado, Cádiz, October 2024
- Between Dress and Architecture: The Power of Thrones for Cardinal Charles II of Bourbon. CIHA, Lyon, June 2024
- ‘Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment’, light, sight and visions in the Living Water Tapestry. AHVC/ML PGR conference, Exeter, June 2024
- ‘A fountain of living water that springs from Lebanon’, weaving water and other technical challenges in the facture of the Living Water tapestry, 1485. EMICS, York, June 2024
- Blurring Secular and Heavenly Boundaries: The Power of Thrones for a Fifteenth-Century Cardinal. CMS, Bristol, April 2024
- Tapestries on the Altar: Exploring the Design and Use of the Louvre Virgin of the Living Water and the Sens Three Coronation Tapestries. The Courtauld Postgraduate Medieval Colloquium, London, May 2023. (co-organiser of conference)
- From Manuscript to Tapestry: Unpicking the Making and Use of the Sens Three Coronation Tapestry, c. 1483-88. The Courtauld Third Year Symposium, London, May 2023.
- Harris Collection study day The Courtauld, London, February 2023
- Woven Complexities: Untangling the Uses of Silk, Gold and Wool in the V&A Passion Tapestry, The Courtauld Postgraduate Medieval Colloquium, London, April 2022.
- The V&A Passion Tapestry, The Courtauld Second Year Symposium, London, February 2022
Academic Training
April – December 2023: Scholarship on the Building Arts Programme with the King’s Foundation
October 2022: “Techniche e technologie storiche”, Fondazione Arte Della Seta Lisio
September 2022: Tapestry Weaving, West Dean Studio
2021-2023: French and Middle French
2021-21: Palaeography (Institute of Historical Research)
2020: DATS training for textile reserach