Thesis: The Cross at the Valois Courts of France (c.1360 – 1422): Object, Relic, Image
Supervised byProf. Susie Nash
Funded by ; Also generously supported by fellowships from the Historians of Netherlandish Art, the British Archaeological Association, and the Society for the ĢƵ of French History.
This thesis undertook an object-focused examination of the cross at the Valois courts of France during the reigns of Charles V and VI (c. 1360–1422), positioning this ubiquitous yet understudied object at the intersection of material culture, devotional practice, and dynastic identity. It asked how the cross functioned within the personal, political, and devotional lives of the Valois princes, and what surviving and documented crosses revealed about their owners’ motivations and identities. Through close visual and material analysis, supported by inventories, accounts, and contemporary chronicles, the thesis examined the crosses associated with Louis of Anjou, Philip the Bold, and Jean de Berry, demonstrating that each engaged with the object in distinct yet interconnected ways. It found that the cross served as a remarkably versatile object—as a focus for devotion, a container of relics, a vehicle for personal and dynastic memory, and a site of technical and material innovation—and argued that, through their commissioning, appropriation, and exchange of crosses, the Valois princes articulated a shared identity that balanced tradition with innovation.
Education
- 2018 – 2025: PhD, ĢƵ Art, supervised by Prof. Susie Nash
- 2016-2017: MA (Distinction): ‘Early Netherlandish Painting: Reinterpreting the object’, ĢƵ Art, supervised by Dr Susan Frances Jones. Dissertation – ‘An Anonymous Triptych with the Anointing of Christ in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: a study in form, meaning and function.’
- 2010-2014: MA Hons., History of Art (First Class Honours), The University of Glasgow.
Publications
- ‘A Valencian tin-glazed and lustred dish for the Duke of Burgundy’The Burlington Magazine,vol. 166, no. 1457 (August 2024).
Conference papers
- 30 March 2022,RSA Annual Meeting Conference, Objects of the Cult: Liturgy/Devotion and Its Instruments in Early Modern Europe, “Treasured by Kings and Princes: Small-Scale Crosses at the Valois Courts, 1360–1422″, The Convention Centre Dublin.
- 22 June 2021, ĢƵ Annual Post Graduate Symposium, ‘‘la donna ma dame a mondit seigneur au jour de l’an’: Philip the Bold’s Gold Cross in Esztergom Cathedral Treasury’ (online).
- 7 February 2020,25th Annual ĢƵ Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium, Working Materials and Materials at Work in Medieval Art and Architecture, ‘Croix d’Or at the Valois Courts – material meaning and manipulation’, ĢƵ Art, London.
Doctoral Fellowships, Grants and Awards
- Ochs Scholarship, the British Archaeological Association (2022)
- HNA Doctoral Candidate Fellowship, Historians of Netherlandish Art (2022)
- RSA Kress Foundation Travel Grant (2022)
- Ralph Gibson Bursary, the Society for the ĢƵ of French History (2021)
- Doctoral Fellowship, Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut (NIKI), Florence, (awarded 2021 undertaken in 2022 due to Covid-19)
- CHASE Doctoral Training Award, awarded by the Consortium of the Humanities and the Arts South East England (CHASE) for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (2018-2021)
- Friends of The ĢƵ Scholarship, ĢƵ Art (2018-2021)
- Sophie Trevelyan Thomas ĢƵ Scholarship, ĢƵ Art, (2016 – 2017)
- Edmond J Safra ĢƵ Scholarship, ĢƵ Art (2016 – 2017)
- Senior Honeyman Prize, University of Glasgow (2014)
Teaching
- Spring 2022-2024, ĢƵ Art, Associate Lecturer, “Art at the Courts of France” (BA3)
- Autumn 2021, ĢƵ Art, Associate Lecturer, “Case Studies in Gothic Art: Intention and Reception” (BA2)
- Summer 2020-2021, ĢƵ Art, Teaching Assistant, Summer University
- Autumn 2019, ĢƵ Art, Teaching Assistant and Teaching Assistants Coordinator, Foundations lecture series (BA1)
Other Activities
Professional Activities
- Director, .
- Research Associate, Painting Pairs Programme 2018/19, ĢƵ Art.
Research Groups
- Co-founder and co-convenor of ‘All That Glitters: Making with Metals in the Middle Ages’, an informal research group established in January 2020.
Conferences
- Co-organiser ‘Display and Displacement in Medieval Art and Architecture’, The ĢƵ’s 26th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium, February 2021
Workshops
- Organiser, vitreous enamelling workshop at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation
- Organiser, gilding workshop at The ĢƵ Institute in collaboration with Sam Fogg London.
Academic Training
- Palaeography Course at the Institute of Historical Research with Dr. Jenny Stratford,2018-2019.
- Participant in CHASE Material Witness workshop training programme 2018/19.
Professional affiliations
- 2018-2021 Project board member of the Doctoral and Early Career Research Network at the Association for Art History.
- Member of the BAA, ICMA, HNA, RSA, SSFH and ICOM.
Research Interests
- Metalwork
- Inventories from the French courts c.1360-1420
- Valois court culture c.1360-1420 and the expression of interpersonal relationships through the comission and exchange of objects
- Artists at the courts of France and Burgundy
- Late medieval art in Northern Europe of all media
- Pre 1430 Northern European panel paintings
- Depictions of the Passion of Christ
- Technical art history
- Materials, their meaning and manipulation