Mrs Jill Harrison
Honorary Research Associate
Biography
Professional biography
BA Honours (Open University), M.Phil (Newcastle University)
Jill Harrison joined the Open University as an Associate Lecturer in Art History in the North Region in 1996 after completing a BA Hons. She tutored courses from pre foundation to Postgraduate level, held consultancy roles and is currently an Honorary Research Associate. She held a Lecturer position in the Art History department between 2009 and 2015, during which time she chaired the Art History MA, co-chaired The Renaissance Reconsidered and contributed to the production of Exploring Art and Visual Culture 1100 -1600 and the Art History MA. She continues to lecture extensively and act as a consultant. She is the founder and convenor of the Trinity Network (2017) a collaborative international project exploring all aspects of the Trinity Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes, the Trinity Collegiate Church and Hospital in Edinburgh. In November 2022 she initiated a satellite research group, the Adornes Network which explores fifteenth-century Scoto-Flemish social, cultural and economic history. 16 academics from 7 countries are currently contributing chapters to an edited volume.
Research interests
Jill founded and is leading 2 research networks- the Trinity Network and the Adornes Network, which focus on the Trinity Collegiate Chapel in Edinburgh and the cultural influence of Anselm Adornes in Scotland and Europe. Following a programme of events and seminars the networks have a wide international academic membership and she is currently co-editing and contributing to 2 volumes, to be published by Brepols in 2025: Reviving the Trinity: Networks and Materialities in Scotland and Europe, 1400 -1600 and Anselm Adornes:Travel, Trade, Cultural Exchange and Intellectual Networks in Scotland, Bruges and Jeruslem. In 2023 she received a Jean Guild Award from the Old Edinburgh Club to support her two-year research project, Reviving the Trinity Stones, which will survey the fragments of medieval stones from the Trinity Chapel, now dispersed thoughout Edinburgh. With Dr Rachel Delman she has co-authored an article for a special edition of the Royal Studies Journal (forthcoming) Reviving the Trinity: Making Mary of Guelders' 15th Century built legacy relevant in 21st -century Scotland.
Other Publications include:
2020: Court Historian: Fresh Perspectives on Hugo van der Goes’ portrait of Margaret of Denmark and the Trinity Altarpiece, (Taylor and Francis).
Renaissance Society of America, Renaissance Quarterly: Review: ‘Cimabue and the Franciscans,’ by Holly Flora, Court Historian-‘Fresh Perspectives on Hugo van der Goes’ portrait of Margaret of Denmark and the Trinity Altarpiece.
2019: Chapter: ‘Partisan politics and Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna: making invisible allegiances visible’ in the first volume of a new series - The Trecento Forum, (Brepols).
Recent conference papers and lectures include:
2024 October, Edinburgh900, Edward Bonkil and the Trinity Altarpiece, Art and Ambition in a fifteenth- century Merchant family.
November, Edinburgh900, Reviving the Trinity Stones: A Puzzle and a Treasure Hunt
https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/reviving-trinity-stones-puzzle-and-treasure-hunt
2023 April, Morningside Heritage Association: Reviving the Trinity Apse: Royal Treasure or Lost Cause?
2022 Invited Keynote speaker, Dorothy Dunnett Society International Conference.
2021 Trinity Network ‘Reviving the Trinity’ online symposium, ‘Interrogating St George:
Scoto- Burgundian encounters in the Trinity Altarpiece’.Renaissance Society of America, ‘Interrogating St George: an unlikely international signifier of a Scottish Renaissance’.
Royal Studies Conference, Trinity Network Keynote discussion, participant. ‘Hidden Heritage; A case study’.
2018 National Portrait Gallery, London. Invited speaker at a seminar in April convened by Dr Sara Ayres, Queen Margarethe II Carlsberg Postdoctoral Fellow in Danish-British Portraiture, ‘ A pious and popular queen: A reassessment of Hugo Van der Goes’ portrait of Margaret of Denmark and Scotland’.
2017 Medieval Motion in Europe IV conference, The Middle Ages: A global Context, Lisbon, December. ‘Pictured from Afar: Interrogating Giotto’s Global Encounters’
2016 Andrew Ladis Trecento Conference, Tulane University, New Orleans, November: Partisan politics and Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna: making invisible allegiances visible’.
Rituals of Power –The Ceremonies of the Courts and States from the Late Medieval Period to the Modern Era, Warsaw, September: ‘Sovereignty, Politics and Performance: Giotto’s Secular Allegories of Power and Diplomacy in Angevin Naples’
2015 Association of Art Historians, UEA, Norwich, April: ‘Giotto’s family enterprise: money-making in the Mugello’. Renaissance Society of America, Humboldt University, Berlin, March: ‘Damned and Dishonoured: Giotto’s images of sacred and secular infamy’.
‘Giotto’s Circle’, Courtauld Institute, London, January: ‘Giotto in the Mugello’.
Panel convenor :
2016 panel co-convenor with Dr Joanne Anderson ( Warburg Institute) : AAH Edinburgh University: Artist Networks and Networking in and with Europe, 700 -170.
2015 panel co-convenor with Dr Vicky Ley ( Open University): AAH UEA Norwich: Artists, Avarice and Ambition in Europe, 1300 – 1600.
2012 panel co-convenor with Dr Sandra Cardarelli ( Aberdeen University): AAH Open University, Milton Keynes: Travelling Artists in Medieval and Renaissance Italy and Europe.
Memberships: Association of Art Historians, Giotto’s Circle (Courtauld Institute), Material Culture Research Group, Medieval and Early Modern Research Group, Renaissance Society of America, Society for Renaissance Studies, Ladis Trecento Forum.
Awards: 2023, Jean Guild Award ( Old Edinburgh Club), Society for Renaissance Studies Public Impact Award. 2011 Speller Award for a PhD research project ‘Giotto and the Cardinal: Art, Avarice and Ambition in Trecento Rome’ undertaken at the British School in Rome during December 2011.
Honorary Positions
2025- Open University Art History Department, Honorary Research Associate, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
