‘Ter eere van den heilighen bloede’: The Relic of the Holy Blood and the Visual Culture of Late Medieval Bruges
Supervisor: Professor Susie Nash
Advisor: Professor Alixe Bovey
My research explores a variety of themes associated with the Holy Blood relic of Bruges, which has been housed in St Basil’s Chapel in the heart of the city since at least the 1250s. I am primarily focused on objects that have been produced in the town in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, whose making is closely linked to – and in many cases, prompted by – the presence of the relic in Bruges, as well as the social organisations and ritual practices that have developed in response to it.
Education
- 2023-present: PhD Candidate, Courtauld Institute of Art
- 2021-22: MA, Courtauld Institute of Art
- 2020-21: Graduate Diploma, Courtauld Institute of Art
- 1994-98: Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS), Georgetown University
Conference papers and contributions
- ‘Visualising Civic Identity and Materialising Sacred Presence: The Processional Candleholder of Bruges’ Confraternity of the Holy Blood’, Sanguis Christi: Visual Culture / Visionary Culture (13th-18th Centuries), Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, 4 December 2025
- ‘Up den dach van de ommeganghe keerssen te draghene’: The Pareerkaars and Bruges’ Confraternity of the Holy Blood, Second Year PhD Symposium, Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 1 May 2025
- Exhibition report, Gold: 50 Spectacular Manuscripts from Around the World at the British Library, in ICMA News (International Center of Medieval Art), Autumn 2022, pp. 34-36
Teaching
- Autumn, 2024: Teaching Assistant, ‘Physical Histories’, Courtauld Institute of Art
Other activities and training
- Co-organiser, Courtauld Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium: ‘Memory and Medieval Material Culture’, Courtauld Institute of Art, 6 March 2026
- Associate Editor, Immediations Postgraduate Journal, 2025-2026
- Organiser, Courtauld Second Year PhD Symposium, Courtauld Institute of Art, 1-2 May 2025
- Transcription volunteer, The National Archives (Series C 115: The Duchess of Norfolk’s Deeds), 2022-2023
- ‘Palaeography and Diplomatic’ with Dr Jenny Stratford, Institute of Historical Research, 2022-2023
- ‘Decoding Iluminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces of Medieval England’, with Professor Michelle Brown, Cambridge University Summer School, 2022
- ‘The English Medieval Parish Church’ with Dr Francis Woodman, Cambridge University Summer School, 2022