
Dr Sophie Kelly
PhD, BA, MA
Current positions
Lecturer in Visual Arts and Cultural Heritage
Department of History of Art (Historical Studies)
Contact
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Research interests
I am a Lecturer in History of Art, specialising in medieval visual and material culture. I am particularly interested in the relationship between visual culture and medieval religion, from the role of images in the performance of the liturgy to meaning of theological diagrams and the function of material culture in devotional practice. My doctoral research focused on medieval representations of the Trinity, but I have published on a range of topics, including the material legacy of Edward, the 'Black Prince' and illuminated manuscripts.
I received my PhD in art history from the University of Kent in 2018 and was awarded a Paul Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2019. Prior to my current role, I was the Project Curator on the major, five-star exhibition Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint at the British Museum (2021). I have also held curatorial roles at the Royal Collection Trust, where I worked on the exhibitions George IV: Art and Spectacle (2019) and Russia, Royalty and the Romanovs (2018), and Canterbury Cathedral on the exhibition Making History: Church, State and Conflict (supported by the National Lottery Fund).
My recent article on the material and devotional legacy of Edward, the 'Black Prince', is available here:
Publications
Selected publications
22/08/2022The Black Prince, the Trinity and the Art of Commemoration
British Art Studies
"The Little Books Look Divine”: Binding the Dolls’ House Library
The Miniature Library of Queen Mary’ s Dolls’ House
Sacred or Profane?
GAZE: A Retrospective of Portraits by Lorna May Wadsworth
Recent publications
31/03/2025Trinity and Transformation at the Turn of the Millennium
Romanesque and the Year 1000
Est/Non Est
Manuscript Studies
"The Little Books Look Divine”: Binding the Dolls’ House Library
The Miniature Library of Queen Mary’ s Dolls’ House
Fragmented illumination: the prefatory miniatures in the St John's Psalter, Cambridge
The Black Prince, the Trinity and the Art of Commemoration
British Art Studies