Collaborative Doctoral Award | University of Cambridge and National Trust

Award: annual maintenance grant to cover living costs (£19,237 stipend + £600 CDA allowance pa at current rates) and university tuition fees at home fee level. The fee gap between the home and overseas fee rates will be covered by the University through internal co-funding for international candidates.
Deadline for applications: Tuesday 7 January 2025, 12:00 GMT (midday)

Applications are invited for an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award at The University of Cambridge, in partnership with the National Trust. This fully-funded studentship is available from October 2025. Further details about the value of an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP award are available on the DTP’s studentships page. 

Painter, miniaturist and goldsmith Rowland Lockey (c.1565–1616) was part of an important network of artists, patrons and critics. A pupil of the English miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard (1547–1619), he was patronised by influential figures such as Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury (‘Bess of Hardwick’). By combining expertise in technical and archival/iconographical art history, this CDA offers an unparalleled opportunity for a student to define and interpret the work of this major Tudor/early Stuart artist. 

The student will undertake technical art-historical research on paintings attributed to Lockey in the collection of the National Trust, understanding the use of techniques such as MA-XRF, cross-section sampling, and X-radiography. Assisted by Trust curators they will research documentary evidence in the Hardwick archives of Lockey’s work for patrons such as Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, and her son, William Cavendish. This will be complemented by research in The National Archives and other repositories, to build as full a picture as possible of Lockey’s career. The archival and technical-analytical data will be set within the relevant social and critical contexts of late Tudor/early Stuart patronage, antiquarianism, and artisanship.  

The dissertation will engage with recent scholarship identifying the oeuvre of Lockey, interrogating this in relation to the results of the technical analysis. It will explore the nature and status of copying in the early modern period using Lockey as a case study. Depending on the particular interests of the student, it may further focus on areas such as artisanal networks, early art criticism in the vernacular, iconography in its historical context, and the technical data in relation to approaches to connoisseurship in British art. 

Further details of the project can be found on the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP website.

Supervision 

The student will be supervised by Professor Alexander Marr FSA (Professor of Renaissance and Early Modern Art, University of Cambridge), Dr Jane Eade FSA (Curator, National Trust Midlands and East of England), and Rebecca Hellen (Senior Paintings Conservator, National Trust).

The student will have outstanding opportunities to gain experience not only in academic research but also in collections-based research, conservation and curating.   

How to Apply

Applications will be welcomed from candidates of all backgrounds who have an interest in the field of Tudor Portraiture. Applicants should meet the eligibility criteria for Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC studentships.

Should you have any questions, or for an informal discussion about how you might approach the CDA project, you are welcome to contact Dr Jane Eade, Cultural Heritage Curator, National Trust Midlands/East of England at [email protected], Senior National Conservator Paintings & Wall Paintings, Rebecca Hellen at [email protected], and Prof. Alexander Marr, Professor of Renaissance and Early Modern Art, University of Cambridge at [email protected]

You should apply to the PhD on the Cambridge jobs site by Tuesday 7 January 2025 at 12:00 GMT (midday), indicate your interest in being considered for an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP studentship and submit a completed copy of the OOC DTP Application Form at the same time.