Karen Hearn is a British

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and curator. She has Master's degrees from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. She is an Honorary Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. From 1992 to 2012 Hearn was the Curator of 16th & 17th Century British Art at the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

where she curated major exhibitions on Tudor and Jacobean paintings,

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

, and

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

. She was co-curator of ''Royalist Refugees'' at The Rubenshuis in Antwerp. She has also curated recent exhibitions at The National Portrait Gallery in London, The Harley Gallery, and The Foundling Museum. She was elected as a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

on 1 January 2005. She researches, writes, teaches, lectures and broadcasts on art produced in Britain between about 1500 and about 1710, and in particular on the numerous Netherlandish-British artistic and cross-cultural links of that period. One long-standing focus is the life and work of the 17th-century portrait-painter Cornelius Johnson ornelis Jonson van Ceulen she is currently working on a full-scale Johnson monograph. Hearn also writes on the British career of Anthony van Dyck. In 2009 she curated the major Tate Britain exhibition ‘Van Dyck & Britain’, and has subsequently published a key essay on his London studio/workshop (2018). For many years she has taught at university level on the centrality of migrant artists to 16th- and 17th-century (Tudor and Stuart period) British art.

Select publications

*1995. Karen Hearn ed., ''Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630'' (London: Tate, 1995). *1998. "Henry Gibbs: Painter and Gentleman", ''Burlington Magazine'' (February 1998), 99-101. *2004. "Merchant Patrons for the Painter Siberechts", in Galinou, Mireille (ed) ''City Merchants and the Arts 1670-1720''. Wetherby. *2004. 'A question of Judgement: Lucy Harington, Countess of Bedford as Art Patron & Collector' in

Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...

ed., ''Evolution of English Collecting'' (Yale, 2004). *2005. '' Nathaniel Bacon: Artist, Gentleman, Gardener''. London, Tate Publishing. *2009. "Lady Anne Clifford's "Great Triptych"", in Hearn, K. and Hulse, L. (eds) ''Lady Anne Clifford: Culture, Patronage and Gender in Seventeenth-Century Britain''. Leeds. 1-24. *2009. Karen Hearn ed., ''Van Dyck & Britain'' (London: Tate, 2009). *2015. "'Picture-drawer, born at Antwerp': Migrant Artists in Jacobean London", in ''Painting in Britain 1500-1630: Production, Influences & Patronage''. London, British Academy. 278-287. *2015. '' Cornelius Johnson'' (London, Paul Holberton: 2015) *2019. "'Wrought with flowers and leaves': Embroidery Depicted in Late Sixteenth- and Early Seventeenth-Century British Portraits – the Era of Rubens", in Lieneke Nijkamp & Abigail D. Newman (eds) ''Undressing Rubens: Fashion and Painting in Seventeenth-Century Antwerp''. London & Turnhout. 31-46. *2020. ''Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media'' (London, Paul Holberton: 2020).

References

External links

Karen Hearn, Early Modern Exchanges, UCL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hearn, Karen Living people British art historians Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Women art historians 21st-century British historians British women historians People associated with the Tate galleries Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of London