Thesis title:
Collecting early modern Italian decorative arts for late nineteenth-century Birmingham
My doctoral research focused on the early modern Italian decorative arts collection at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG). The collection is constituted of 378 objects, mainly purchased in Italy by John Charles Robinson (1824-1913) and Whitworth Wallis (1855-1927) between 1881 and 1889. It was one of the first collections to be acquired for and displayed at BMAG when it opened in 1885. The collection, which is constituted of furniture, metalwork, textiles, ceramics and glass objects, was intended to educate and inspire Birmingham’s artisans, industrial designers, and art students. This thesis had several aims: to examine BMAG’s collecting strategy; to study Robinson’s and Wallis’s acquisition practices; to investigate the provenance of the collection, including the export of the objects from Italy to Britain; and to analyse the collection’s reception and role in artistic training and industrial design in late nineteenth-century Birmingham.
Research topics: Decorative arts; History of Collecting; Provenance research; Victorian Museums; Nineteenth-century Art Market; Nineteenth-century reception of the Renaissance.
Research Area
Publications
Conferences
- 'Collecting Italian Renaissance art for the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1881-1889', International symposium: The Commerce and Circulation of the Decorative Arts: Auctions, Dealers, Collectors and Museums, Lyon, 25-27th September 2024.
- 'Exhibiting Italian Renaissance decorative art in nineteenth-century Birmingham: significance, display, reception', 70th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Chicago, 21st-24th March 2024.
- 'A network of buyers, dealers, and shippers: exporting artworks from Venice to Birmingham in the late nineteenth century', History of Art Symposium, University of Warwick, 27th September 2023.
- 'Analysing the provenance of Birmingham's Italian Renaissance decorative art collection: John Charles Robinson's acquisitions, 1881-83', Seminaire Collection, 7th February 2023.
- '"The Finest Art Gallery out of London" : innovation, progression, and accessibility at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery', Work in Progress seminar, History department, University of Warwick, 5th December 2022.
- PGR knowledge-sharing event, Re-imagining Renaissances in Visual and Material Cultures: Memory, Collections and Identities, Co-convened by Prof. Juliet Simpson (Coventry: CAMC) and Prof. Louise Bourdua (Warwick: SCAPVC), 2nd November 2022.
- 'Birmingham's Italian Renaissance Decorative Art collection: composition, acquisition, reception', Birmingham Museums Trust staff meeting, 14th September 2022.
- ' "By the gains of Industry, we promote Art": Innovaton, progression and accessibility in Victorian provincial museums', Victorian Discoveries Conference, organised by the Victorian Studies Centre, University of Leicester, 1st July 2022
- 'British Buyers and Italian Art Dealers: the provenance of the Italian Renaissance Decorative Art Collection at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery', M4C Research Festival, 16th June 2022
- Digital poster, M4C Digital Research Festival 2021, https://my.ltb.io/#/showcase/midlands4cities-digital-research-festival-2021/
- 'Collecting Practices at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Actors, Networks, Objects', Joint Virtual 2021 Coventry-Warwick Post-Graduate Research Symposium, 19th May 2021
- 'Animal Masks and Costumes in Late Medieval Court Culture', Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference, 28th June 2018 https://medievalartresearch.com/2018/06/08/conf-animals-the-2018-oxford-medieval-graduate-conference/
Public Engagement & Impact
- Guest speaker, Solihull History of Art Society. Lecture title: 'Fakes, Forgeries, and the nineteenth-century Italian art market', 18th February 2025.
- Contributor to the Birmingham Museums blog, 'Let there be light: (Re)opening Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery', December 2024.
- Guest speaker, Solihull History of Art Society. Lecture title: 'Collecting Italian Renaissance decorative art for late nineteenth-century Birmingham', 6th February 2024.
- Guest speaker, Birmingham Museums Trust All Staff meeting. Paper title: 'Birmingham's Italian Renaissance Decorative Art collection: composition, acquisition, reception', 14th September 2022.
- Co-organiser and chair for Warwick's History of Art department's research seminar. Guest speaker: Dr Rebecca Bridgman (Birmingham Museums Trust), 'BMAG but not as you know it: Generating Social Trust, Belonging and Solidarity through Radical Redisplay', 15th June 2022.
Other Research Interests
- Expositions Universelles / Great exhibitions
- Renaissance material culture
- Exchanges across the Mediterranean in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Memberships
- Member of the Renaissance Society of America
- Member of The Society for the History of Collecting
- Member of the International Council of Museums
Academic profile
2020-2025 - PhD in History of Art, University of Warwick
Thesis title: Collecting early modern Italian decorative art for late nineteenth-century Birmingham.
2017-2018 - MA in Art History, Curatorship and Renaissance Culture, Warburg Institute
Dissertation title: ‘Vases of the Annunciation: A material culture approach'
2013-2016 - BA in History, UCL (University College London)
Dissertation title: 'Mummers and Mummings in Late Medieval Court Culture'
Funding and Awards
- 2020-2024: AHRC Midlands4Cities Collaborative Doctoral Award
Work experience
Before starting my PhD, I worked in the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Christie's London. I also volunteered in several museums, including Sir John Soane's Museum, throughout my undergraduate degree.
Responsibilities
- PGR Collective co-convener, History of Art department, University of Warwick (2024-2025)
- Work In Progress co-convener, Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, University of Warwick (2023-2024)
- PGR representative, History of Art department Staff-Student Liaison Committee (2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024)
- History of Art PGR representative, Faculty of Arts Education Committee, University of Warwick (2022-2023)
- History of Art PGR representative, SCAPVC Staff-Student Liaison Committee (2021-2023)
Teaching
- 2024-2025: Module convener, 'Fakes and Forgeries' (two-hours seminar, first year module), University of Warwick
- 2023-2024: Lecturer and seminar tutor, 'Renaissance Europe II: Arts, Culture, and Knowledge of the Renaissance'
