PhD and PDF Positions: PhD position in Re-framing the Italian Renaissance

PhD position in Re-framing the Italian Renaissance

Highlights:

The UCL Department of History of Art in collaboration with the National Gallery, London is seeking to award a fully-funded PhD studentship from October 2010. The studentship, which will support three years of full-time study, is funded through the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards Scheme.
The studentship is for a doctoral research project that aims to expand knowledge, understanding and awareness of the important collection of Renaissance (late 14th to 16th-century) and Neo-Renaissance frames acquired, adapted and sometimes produced specifically for the National Gallery, London.
The thesis will research the social and artistic contexts in which the frames were made, acquired, adapted or removed, addressing early period artistic and patronal issues, the art market, changes in taste and the activities of individuals and bodies working for the Gallery in the 19th and 20th centuries. The thesis will aim to establish the history of the development of this diverse and complex collection over time and the factors, aesthetic, practical, political and sometimes accidental, that affected this development. The research will involve case studies in the framing history of particular works, sacred and secular, drawing strongly on the documentary and technical resources of the National Gallery as well as the Gallery's collection of historic frames. The aim will be to understand and interpret the collection within institutional, national and international contexts and address the way Gallery and individual practice or policy continues to affect public perception of Renaissance paintings.

The student will contribute to activities both at UCL and the National Gallery, including the formulation of a small NG exhibition and provision of web-based material. The student will benefit from insight into and experience of museological and curatorial practice in Britain's leading museum for Renaissance paintings. We are looking for a candidate with a background in history of art, the history of taste and collecting, museum studies or related fields. Italian language skills are required and some experience of documentary research is desirable. The successful applicant will need to meet the AHRC's academic criteria for doctoral study and demonstrate the potential to develop advanced research skills. Candidates must also meet the AHRC's requirements for UK/EU residency. Standard tuition fees and (for UK students only) a maintenance grant will be paid by the AHRC for three years.Research will be supervised jointly by Dr Alison Wright of the Department of History of Art, UCL and Dr Susanna Avery-Quash, Research Curator for the History of Collecting at the National Gallery, London
For informal enquiries and further details, please contact Dr Alison Wright at alison.wright@uc.ac.uk. See also www.ucl.ac.uk/art-history/research for further information on Collaborative Doctoral Awards.
Applications should be made through UCL at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/admission/graduate-study/application-admission/ and candidates should send two complete sets of the application form (Downloadable Application Form (pdf) only), including references, transcripts and a statement outlining your suitability for and interest in this research proposal. One is to be directed to Admissions, The Registry, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, and the other copy is to be sent to Lori Williams, UCL Department of History of Art, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.
Closing date for application: 1 June 2010
Interviews will take place at the National Gallery on Monday, 21 June 2010.