The goal of the MSCA fellowship was to gain training in an understudied and underrepresented field of early modern art history, and to bring this field into conversation with approaches from religious history as well as methods from material and object studies, and global and entangled history (or histoire croisée). This MSCA has pushed the frontiers of understandings forward regarding the role of relics in, and the interconnectedness of, early modern Europe. The numerous publications the Fellow submitted and papers given opened a field of study and methodology that has gained international recognition through invitations for lectures, conference papers, and further publications. The Fellow has shed new light on the lives of lesser-known saints and forgotten exchanges between Italy and the Nordic-Baltic region, linking peoples, places and cultures that have been conventionally isolated in the scholarly and public imagination.
Overall, the Fellow disseminated their research via numerous presentations at international conferences, the organization of a symposium, and a number of panels at leading conferences. They also spread knowledge of their research via the project website, blog posts, a TV interview, talks live-streamed online to a broad public audience (including school children), and contributions to a museum exhibition that likewise reached a broad public audience. The combined activities created discussion and debate about the role of relics and connections between north-easternmost and south-western Europe across the centuries, challenging conventional understandings still embedded in European culture about certain inherent geographical and cultural divisions separating north/south and east/west.
Impacts anticipated from the MSCA have been achieved: the fellow has built a wide collaborative network with colleagues from the Nordic-Baltic region and bridged this network with other researchers in Europe and the United States. In addition, the findings have been disseminated via articles published in leading journals, edited volumes and conference proceedings, and two books. The results of the Action and the Fellow’s career growth have further been recognized, including through invitations to take on editorial advisory roles (for ORE and Baltic Journal of Art History), and to take leadership roles in professional service (e.g. the RSA mentorship committee). Despite the severe impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on research and training, the MSCA fellowship has enabled the Fellow to remain a competitive researcher.
