Frances Rothwell Hughes
Academic Work
Research
I am an art historian specialising in early modern northern Europe. I am particularly interested in print, theories of ornament, and the role of the visual in the production of knowledge.
I completed my doctorate at the University of Cambridge in 2021, with a dissertation entitled, 'The Heraldic Imagination in German-Speaking Lands c.1480 –c.1560.’ The thesis brought to light the extraordinary artistic transformation of heraldic imagery in the German Renaissance, tracing how artists and designers engaged with heraldry as a category of image capable of inciting visual and intellectual pleasure. Coats of arms are often viewed as a distinctly medieval and utilitarian category of image, at odds with the cultural changes associated with the Renaissance. However, renowned artists and thinkers of this period dedicated much attention to heraldry as artistic subject matter, bringing it into dialogue with newly emergent genres, cultural
concerns and social networks.
I have also published research in peer-reviewed journals on early modern book culture and seventeenth-century English calligraphic practices.
Publications and Writing
"Thinking with Heraldry on the Eve of the Reformation: A Drawing by Niklaus Manuel Deutsch," Art History, 46:3 (June 2023): 484-511. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8365.12733
"The Heraldic Imagination in German-Speaking Lands c.1480–c.1560," Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.82327
“Sylvanus Morgan’s Library: Books for an Aspirational Heraldic Painter,” The Library, 22:1 (March 2021): 69-92. https://doi.org/10.1093/library/22.1.69
“Micrography, Medleys and Marks: The Visual Discernment of Text in the Calligraphy Collection of Samuel Pepys,” Word & Image, 36:4 (December 2020): 397-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2020.1759355
“The Rothley Shaft: An Art-Historical Reassessment,” Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Transactions, 90 (2016): 141-156. https://doi.org/10.5284/1107957
Teaching
I have taught on a wide variety of art-historical topics at the University of Cambridge from 2017–2023, covering my specialist areas of knowledge, as well as more general historiography and introductory papers. In the academic year 2022-23, I was an Early Modern Teaching Associate in the Department of History of Art and Architecture, and Director of Studies at Trinity Hall. Prior to this I was an Affiliated Lecturer and Supervisor in the department. As well as undergraduate teaching, I have delivered seminars for students on the MPhil and MSt programmes. I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
As a Teaching Associate, I designed and delivered my own undergraduate 'special subject' paper at the University of Cambridge, which surveyed the intersection between visual culture and histories of knowledge in early modern northern Europe, c.1500–c.1620.
During this period, natural philosophers increasingly turned to practical, experimental methods of inquiry, involving fieldwork, the examination of specimens and experimentation with light and matter. As a result, artists and artisanal expertise were essential to the production, documentation and transmission of 'scientific' knowledge. In turn, the demands and discourses of scholarship influenced artistic practice and theory. The course offered students a fresh, interdisciplinary approach to Renaissance studies.
Lectures, Talks, Outreach
I believe that making, viewing and discussing art should be accessible to all. I have delivered public lectures on my research for organisations such as the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Paul Mellon Centre, as well as multiple outreach workshops for school students considering pursuing art history at university.
