Doctoral advisor Maurits Smeyers | Academic advisor Maurits Smeyers | |
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Institutions Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Thesis Een erfenis van heilig hout of de neerslag van het teruggevonden kruis in tekst en beeld tijdens de Middeleeuwen: een iconologische studie van de Kruislegende (1997) Alma mater Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Institution Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Books Caput Johannis in Disco: Es, A Heritage of Holy Wood: Th, Nymph: Motif - Phantom, Pneuma and the Visual Me, Late Medieval Enclosed Similar Catrien Santing, Anita Traninger, Mary Magdalene, Harald Szeemann |
Barbara Baert (born Turnhout, 1967) is professor of the History of Art at the University of Leuven.
Contents
Career
Barbara Baert teaches in the fields of Iconology, Art Theory & Analysis, and Medieval Art. She is the founder of the Iconology Research Group, an international and interdisciplinary platform for the study of the interpretation of images. Baert is a fellow at Illuminare – Centre for the Study of Medieval Art (KU Leuven).

In 1997, Baert obtained a doctoral degree with her research on the True Cross, later published in English under the title A Heritage of Holy Wood: The Legend of the True Cross in Text and Image. She directed several international research programmes, such as Mary Magdalene and the Touching of Jesus, an intra- and interdisciplinary investigation of the interpretation of John 20:17 sponsored by the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (2004-2008) and The Woman with the Hemorrhage (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:42b-48), an iconological study of the interpretation of the Haemorrhoissa in medieval art (4th-15th century) funded by the KU Leuven (2008-2012). Currently, Baert is supervising a project entitled Caput Iohannis in Disco. Object-Medium-Function (2013-2017). Since January 2014 she has been a life member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. She is also a member of the Academia Europaea. Between April and September 2015, she held a fellowship at the Internationale Kolleg für Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie (IKKM). As coordinator of the Iconology Research Group, Baert is the editor-in-chief of three peer-reviewed series: Iconologies (ASP editions), Studies in Iconology (Peeters Publishers), and Art & Religion (Peeters Publishers).
Prizes and Awards

Baert was honoured twice by the The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts: in 1993 for her outstanding thesis in Art History entitled Het Boec van den Houte and in 2006 for her outstanding scientific career before the age of forty. In 2016, she was honoured the Pioneer’s Award of the KU Leuven and the Francqui Prize for her pioneering work in iconology and medieval visual culture.
Publications
