Applications are sought for up to two Research Associates (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter/in) for the new ERC funded project SACRIMA, The Normativity of Sacred Images in Early Modern Europe led by Professor Chiara Franceschini and based at the LMU Institute for Art History in Munich, Germany. Applications from other related disciplines are welcome.

We offer one to two post-doctoral positions of 2 years starting at the earliest in February 2017. After a positive evaluation, each of the contracts can be extended for one additional year (a total of three years maximum). The starting salary is in accordance with the requirements of the LMU and depends on relevant research experience.

The project will study the normativity and the autonomy of art, particularly in the religious field across Early Modern Europe (circa 1450-1650). Bringing together researchers trained in the history of art of different European areas as well as historians of religion, law and cultural transfer, this interdisciplinary project will break ground in two main ways. First, by questioning and developing the notion of ‘visual norm’ in a double sense: institutional norms imposed on images and autonomous visual norms. Second, by adopting a comparative approach at the crossroads of the history of art, the history of religion and law, and cultural geography.

Focusing on a comparison between five major areas that, remaining inside Catholicism, responded differently to the challenge imposed by the Reformation, the project has the following stated objectives: 1) A comparative survey of cases of contested images in the Italian peninsula and islands, France, Iberia, the Low Countries and Southern Germany. 2) An investigation of the notion of ‘visual norm’ (focusing on aspects such as styles, iconographies, reproduction and reframing) and a study of the status, the autonomy and the legal value of images. 3) An exploration of the geography of reactions to art transfer aiming at reconstructing a cross-border cartography of visual norms in Europe and the Mediterranean.

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You will have either a PhD in History of Art or in Early Modern History and allied disciplines. You will have a background in areas of the History of Art of the early modern period, preferably with a specialization in Northern European and/or Iberian art (or in one of the other areas of interests of the project), and/or in the early modern religious history of Europe.

You will be expected to pursue independent work related to the themes of SACRIMA focusing in particular on objectives 1 and 2 of the project (see description above). Successful candidates are expected to work as part of a team based in Munich and to spend up to four months per year in research on fieldwork and/or archive visits for individual case studies. Contributors will publish the results of their research within the publication programme of the project. You will be expected to be involved in planning and running collaborative activities of the project group (project meetings and seminars) as well as in some administrative work associated with the project.

Experience with administration and coordination would be desirable as well as an interest in archival research and/or the implementation of digital tools connected with the project.

Working space, working tools and a travel budget will be provided. Applications by researchers with handicap will be considered with priority under equal conditions. We welcome applications from female candidates. This is a full-time position. The possibility of part-time and flexible working hours will be considered.

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