Philip Muijtjens: ‘See and Understand’: Funerary Monuments, Vision, and Memory in Italy, ca.1300-1530

Supervisor: Dr Donal Cooper

Research overview:

Philip’s doctoral thesis will study the polyvalent and often contradictory nature of theory and practice for funerary monuments in Italy between ca. 1300 and 1530. The principal focus will be on the juxtaposition of written thought on the agency of tombs with the in-depth analysis of archive-based case studies. As such, this dissertation aims to highlight the complexity of the role of the funerary monument in Italy from the fourteenth through to the sixteenth centuries, while also providing a broader overview of important patterns of thought and practice which influenced the creation of funerary monuments and vice versa. Emphasis will be placed on the way in which individuals embedded the perceived agency of tombs into existing ideas of perception, memory, and and (liturgical) space. Previous scholarship on tombs and commemoration in Italy is often characterised by either a diachronic (and often formal) approach tracing artistic developments of sculptors or patrons, or by a focus on individual focus on case studies which do not necessarily interact with the greater surviving corpus of funerary monuments. This thesis aims to partially redeem this and set the ground for a more socio-cultural approach to tomb monuments in Italy between ca.1300 and 1530.

Biography:

Before coming to Cambridge, Philip pursued two bachelor degrees in History of Art and Classics at Leiden University. In 2019, Philip pursued an MPhil degree in History of Art at Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Donal Cooper. In addition to his studies, Philip has completed internships at the Royal Library in The Hague, the Huygens Institute in Amsterdam, the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge.