Course requirements:
Candidates accepted for this course will have a 1st class or a high 2i honours degree in History of Art or a related discipline. Please note: that this is a research degree with taught methodological elements, not a conversion course for students whose first degree lies in another subject.
The University requires all applicants to demonstrate competence in the English language at a very high level before they begin their proposed course of study. Adherence to this requirement is strict, especially for candidates on one-year courses. You must be able to demonstrate that you are able to communicate in English at a level and in an idiom suitable to the subject. You will, therefore, need to provide evidence that you meet the University’s minimum requirements for competence in English. For further information see Postgraduate Admissions Office.
The Department of History of Art places particular emphasis upon competence in foreign languages required for work in the chosen area of specialization. Language tuition in Latin and modern foreign languages is available, but students who already possess the necessary language skills will be better prepared to undertake the course.
How to Make an Application for the MPhil in History of Art & Architecture:
If you do meet the course requirements, applicants are encouraged to read the bio’s listed below and select a supervisor who closely matches their research project/interests. The application will then be reviewed by the proposed supervisor. Applicants will be invited to an interview if shortlisted. If an applicant does not have a proposed supervisor, title and detailed research project with a clear art historical focus, their application will be rejected prior to academic review. See:
Professor Rosalind (Polly) Blakesley - European, British and Russian art, 18th-early 20th century
Dr Rachel Coombs - Visual and musical culture of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century France. My broader research interests lie in the interrelationships between the visual arts and music, the role of these arts within collective and cultural memory, and the ways in which the practice of these arts is informed by religion and politics
Professor Donal Cooper - Italian late Medieval and Renaissance art
Dr Elizabeth Deans - Research interests: architecture, interiors, architectural drawings, prints, texts, decorative art, object theory, and material culture in (or through networks of) Europe and America in the early modern period (c.1550-1800)
Professor Caroline Van Eck – European art and architecture and their theories, in particular French, the reception of Graeco-Roman art, the anthropology of art, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and Aby Warburg
Dr Kareem Estefan - Film, video, and digital media, particularly Arab moving-image practices, documentary and Global South cinema, and activist engagements with colonialism and its legacies in contemporary art and film
Dr Christina Faraday - British art, architecture and material culture from the late 15th to the early 17th centuries; relationships between art and music, art and literature
Dr Krisztina Ilko - Global Middle Ages
Professor Alyce Mahon - 20th-century art, especially Surrealism, performance and feminist art practice (Professor Mahon will not be accepting MPhil applications for 2024-25)
Professor Alexander Marr - European and British art and architecture, 16th and 17th centuries
Dr Saul Nelson - Research interests: Modernist painting (19th and 20th Century); contemporary painting; Marxist, decolonial, and feminist art history/theory
Dr Xin Peng - Film history, classical Hollywood cinema, critical race and postcolonial theories, Asian American studies and transnational cinemas
Dr Frank Salmon - British and European Architecture, 17th-19th century
Dr Laura Slater - Medieval art and architecture
Dr Amy Tobin - 20th- and 21st-century art, and moving image, especially in relation to feminism, gender politics, queer and post-colonial theory
You are recommended to only make a formal application via the University’s Graduate Admissions Office, once an academic member of staff has confirmed that they would be interested to consider a formal application. Please note that an offer of admission to the University is subject to final approval by the University's Graduate Admissions Office. Do not assume that you will be made an offer on the grounds that your prospective supervisor has suggested you make a formal application – this just represents the first stage of admission administration.
All applications must be made via the Applicant Portal available on the Postgraduate Admissions Office website. It is important that you read through the information available on the Graduate Admissions Office website before submitting your application. If you are already a current graduate student at Cambridge you will be referred to as a ‘Continuer’ on the Graduate Admissions Office website.
You will need to arrange for the following documents to be submitted with your application:
- Academic Reference(s)
- A Personal Reference will only be required if you are applying for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship
- Transcript
- Evidence of Competence in English if English is not your first language
- Sample of Work - this could be a journal publication or a chapter from your undergraduate dissertation
- Research Proposal of 1000 - 1500 words should consist of a topic and a hypothesis, a literature review, a statement on method, and key references
Application Deadlines
The MPhil in History of Art & Architecture commences in October each year and applications for the course can be made from the preceding September. All applications must be made via the Applicant Portal available on the Postgraduate Admissions Office website. It is important that you read through the information available on the Graduate Admissions Office website before submitting your application.
If places are still available on programmes beyond the 4 January 2024 funding deadline; self-funded applicants will continue to be considered until the final deadline of 16 May 2024. No applications will be considered after this deadline.
Course Fees
Information relating to the fee for this course is available from the Postgraduate Admissions Office.
Funding
Further information on funding sources is available – https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/funding. The funding deadline for applicants is 4 January 2024. Even if you are not seeking funding, we strongly recommend that you submit your application by 4 January, as no applications will be accepted once this competitive and popular programme is full.
After your Application is Submitted
When the application reaches the Department, it will be considered by the Department’s Postgraduate Admissions Team. Applicants will be invited for an interview via Zoom/Teams. The Faculty’s Degree Committee will then consider the application and make a recommendation to the Postgraduate Admissions Office as to whether an offer of a place on the course should be made, and if so, with what academic conditions.
Please be aware that this process may take several months. You can check the status of your application at any time via your Applicant Portal.
For further information on graduate admission to the Department of History of Art contact: postgraduate.admin@aha.cam.ac.uk