Rome News

Kent has one of the highest concentrations of PhD students studying the Roman world in the UK, much of their work is focused on ancient Rome. At the same time, Kent has also undertaken fieldwork at the very centre of Rome, and is developing new projects, such as st…udying the Tiber, as well as anticipating exhibitions celebrating the life of the artist Raphael.

The Italian Renaissance Document Site (IRDS) has been launched at http://irds-project.org. With support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation’s Digital Resources Grant Program, this website makes available full transcriptions of primary documentation for ten Italian Renaissance artists: Piero della Francesca, Benozzo Gozzoli, Benedetto Bonfigli, Pietro Perugino, Bartolomeo della Gatta, Luca Signorelli, Giovanni Santi, Francesco di Giorgio, Neroccio de’ Landi, and Raphael. It has an English and an Italian language version, and every document is accompanied by details of its location and a basic bibliography, acknowledging the transcription author as appropriate (in some cases transcriptions have been supplied, in others published transcriptions have been followed, and the project team were also responsible for numerous new transcriptions or for revising published transcriptions from the original). There is a full-text search facility, and the increased richness of the database allows students and researchers to make connections in this documentation more easily than before. The flexibility also allows for documents to be added, or transcriptions corrected, in the future and there are plans to add photographs and possibly translations, as well as to extend the number of artists included.

This project has been directed by Tom Henry, Professor of History of Art at the University of Kent and Director of the University of Kent, Rome. Three researchers have worked on the project: Margherita Cinti, Matteo Mazzalupi and Valentina Ricci-Vitiani.

Tom Henry, Professor of History of Art and Director of University of Kent in Rome, was interviewed on Sky Arts’s docudrama ‘Raphael: In Search Of Beauty’: http://go.sky.com/catchup/series/content/series/550d9d1c07657510VgnVCM1000000b43150a____ . Raphael’s enduring fascination prompted the documentary’s investigations into the sources of his art. With footage of some of his greatest works, the programme ranged from recent documentary research to imaginative interpretations of the artist’s interests (and loves).

The European Summer Schools at the University’s centres in Paris and Brussels have just taken place for the fourth time since they were first created in 2013 as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations.

Scholarships were awarded to Kent Undergraduate students and external applicants to spend a fortnight participating in academic sessions and cultural activities in these two major European capital cities.

Students in Brussels studied on the theme of ‘Europe and the World’ benefitting from dynamic sessions including those on International Migration, European Neighbourhood Policy and a discussion with a member of the British Embassy on the EU referendum result and the future of the EU.

Students also had the chance to visit the European Parliament to discuss the EU with a current MEP, as well as to take part in an all-day guided tour of the battlefields of WW1 in Ypres, Flanders. Here, students learned about the human cost and political impact of the First World War and discovered how it helped to shape today’s Europe.

Students in Paris studied on the theme of ‘Revolutions’ immersing themselves in French culture by exploring the city’s art, architecture, film, drama, writing and philosophy. Through a series of interconnected lectures and excursions guided by academic specialists, students visited a wide range of culturally and historically significant sites including the Pompidou centre, Versailles and Picasso Museum.

At the end of the Summer School, the students had developed close friendships with each other and had gained analytical and intercultural skills that they can take with them into their studies and out into the job market. The programme has also helped to promote Kent’s European Centres.

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the generosity of the programme’s sponsors, including Student Project Funds.

Sophie Punt, Academic Division

We will continue to accept applications for the Academic year 2016-17 until end of August 2016

A team of postgraduates are collecting new data in the Markets of Trajan adjacent to the Imperial Forum built by Trajan in the second century AD.

The data is collected with a portable Xray Flouresence (pXRF) analyser. This provides indications of the geo-chemical composition of paving stones from the site.  In turn, this will allow researchers at the University of Kent to establish from which lava flow the stone was quarried.  The machine is placed on each paving-stone for 90 seconds without any damage or destruction to the material.

Two PhD students taking part in this work, Julia Peters and Catherine Hoggarth, studied for their MAs in Rome, whilst Tabitha Rose is currently taking the MA. They will be working alongside a geologist, Mike Worthing and Lloyd Bosworth – the Department’s Archaeology Technician.

The project is led by Professor Ray Laurence and informs his research on Roman roads in Italy. His previous publications on this topic include The Roads of Roman Italy: Mobility and Cultural Change.

Professor Laurence commented: This work will provide us with new insights into the pattern of supply of stone for paving the streets of Rome.  The team has worked hard to calibrate the equipment to replicate in the field, what might only be achieved in a large laboratory or via the destruction of archaeological materials. pXRF is a neat solution to provide a lot of data quickly using a small team.