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Classical Art Research Centre (CARC)

The role of the Classical Art Research Centre is to stimulate, conduct and support leading research on all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman art. It carries out its own research projects (notably on ancient gem engraving and classical connections with Central Asian art), as well as organizing a variety of seminars, workshops and conferences. It also produces three series of academic publications. A particular emphasis is placed on supporting graduate students and fostering specialist research skills in classical art history. CARC occupies the top floor of the Ioannou Centre at 66 St Giles'. All students are welcome to consult the small library housed there in CARC's study-room.

The Centre has its origins in the famous Beazley Archive , which remains central to its activities. The Archive contains the world's largest collection of photographs of ancient figure-decorated pottery, as well as many thousands of other photographs, historic notes, drawings, and gem-impressions. Through the CARC website, the Beazley Archive also runs several online databases. The Beazley Archive Pottery Database is used by tens of thousands of researchers internationally and is the most important online resource for studying Attic pottery. The Archive also hosts CVA Online (the electronic Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum ) and databases devoted to archaeological photographs, classical and neoclassical gems, and Etruscan and Italic architectural terracottas.

Further details:

Director: Professor Peter Stewart

Website: www.carc.ox.ac.uk

In this section

Dphil programme, the ruskin dphil programme includes two strands: the practice-led dphil (which includes a substantial written component) and the contemporary art history and theory dphil (by written thesis only)., courtesy damian taylor, jaimini patel, an inventory of small acts, 2018 / the artist, tombs of thought ii / brook andrew.

In the case of the contemporary art history and theory DPhil, the Ruskin can offer supervision across a wide range of research projects. These may include aspects of exhibition curating and organisation, as well as the historiography of twentieth-century art and the theorisation of contemporary artistic practices. In the case of the practice-led DPhil, studio work will be undertaken as a central component of the registered research programme, and will be presented in relation to the argument of a written thesis that engages with the relevant theoretical, historical, or critical context. 

The two strands of the DPhil programme are brought into a productive dialogue, both in a structured way at the weekly research seminar and informally in the studios.  For an indication of the range of practical, historical and theoretical topics that are addressed in the School, please have a look at the programme of the Ruskin research seminars, which take place every term.

The Ruskin School of Art provides an exceptional research environment that enables artists, art historians and art theorists to work closely together in a world-leading, research-intensive university. 

Its intimate size and its dedication to contemporary art practice and theory within a stimulating and dynamic interdisciplinary structure allows it to sustain close relations with other academic departments and faculties, distinguishing it from other, larger art schools, and allowing for a wide range of interdisciplinary and collaborative work at DPhil level.

Applicants would normally be expected to have completed, or to be about to complete, a Master’s course or equivalent, either in Fine Art or in a theoretical discipline related to the research project. It is worth noting, however, that both the practice-led and the history/theory DPhil are demanding academic degrees that presuppose a high level of academic ability.

For enquiries relating to the admissions process, please contact the Ruskin’s Graduate Studies Administrator via email at: [email protected] 

Full details on the DPhil programme and requirements for admission specific to the Ruskin DPhil can be found on:  http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-fine-art

Part-time study

The Ruskin offers the possibility to pursue a DPhil on a part-time basis. In assessing applications from candidates seeking to undertake a research degree through part-time study, the Committee shall have regard to evidence that: (i) the candidate is suitable to undertake research at doctoral level; (ii) the candidate’s personal and professional circumstances are such that it is both practicable for him or her to fulfil the requirements of the course, and necessary for him or her to study on a part-time basis; (iii) if appropriate, the candidate has the written support of their present employer for their proposed course of study and its obligations; (iv) the candidate’s proposed topic of research is suitable for part-time study; (v) the candidate can meet the attendance requirements relating to part-time study.

Part-time students are required to attend for a minimum of thirty days of university-based work each year, to be arranged with the agreement of their supervisor, for the period that their names remain on the Register of Graduate Students unless individually dispensed by the committee.

Attendance requirements  

Supervisors will normally require that attendance takes place during full-term rather than over the vacations so that students can benefit from seminars, lectures and the research activity of the School. All students, full-time or part-time, are required to attend the ‘research methodology’ seminar, which takes place every Michaelmas Term.

In addition, you may like to consult the DPhil Handbook, which gives further details on the structure of the course, supervisions arrangements, staff research interests, ongoing research projects, facilities etc.

Visiting doctoral students

• Please note that we do not offer the possibility of a visiting or exchange period of study for PhD students currently enrolled in another University.

Previous DPhil students and their research topics

Chay Allen  Experience, Chance And Change: Allan Kaprow And The Tension Between Art And Life, 1948-1976 [2015]

Brook Andrew GABAN: ngarranga-birdyulang dhadharra ngawal murrungamirra (STRANGE: after-scar acting/post-traumatic theatre & powerful objects) [2022]

Helen Benigson Fattened Flattened Tongue Ties: Performing Maternality Online and Offline [2020]

Nicola Brandt Emerging Landscapes: Memory, Trauma and its Afterimage in Post-Apartheid Namibia and South Africa [2015]

Clare Carolin The Deployment of Art:  The Imperial War Museum's Artistic Records Committee 1968-1982 [2018]

Beatrice Cartwright  Feminist Impolitics: Time, Pleasure and Labour in Art 1989-2000 [2023]

Sabrina Chou Constitutions [2022]

Shwanda Corbett Feminist Impolitics: Time, Pleasure and Labour in Art 1989-2000 [2023]

Diego de las Heras Pardo ATLAS OF THE HOLE/ HOUSE OF DEMENTIA: The Escutcheon, The Hearth, and The Floor-cloth as motifs for dwelling and storytelling [2020]

Jessica Draper  Being White Part I: A Self-portrait in the Third Person; Being White Part II: Whiteness in South African Visual Culture [2014]

Yuval Etgar The Ends of Collage [2020]

Hilary Floe The Museum Of Modern Art, Oxford, (1965-1982): Exhibitions, Spectatorship and Social Change [2016]

Patrick Goddard Shit House to Penthouse: An autoethnographic investigation into the interface between artists and East London [2019]

Una Henry The Politics of Knowledge That Leads Elsewhere [2017]

Jessyca Hutchens A Gift of Time: The Contemporary Artist-in-Residency Programme [2022]

Sohin Hwang Vitality of Systems [2018]

Hannah Jones The Oweds [2021]

Natasha Kidd The undoing of an object: communicating the complexities of making an artwork [2019]

Minae Kim The Afterlife of Site-specific Sculpture: A Self-referential Study through Practice [2022]

Jinjoon Lee Empty Garden : A Liminoid Journey to Nowhere in Somewhere [2021]

Mariah Lookman  Looking to Draw: Picturing the Molecular Body in Art and Science [2014]

Matthew Mason  The Independent Curator in the Era of Globalisation [2023]

Dorota Michalska  The Other Side of the Elbe River. Interventions in Art, Modernity , and Coloniality in Poland [2024]

Vichaya Mukdamanee (De)contextualising Buddhist Aesthetics [2016]

Saul Nelson Going on From Picasso? Late Modernism and the Dynamics of History [2022]

Chelsea Nichols Human Curiosities in Contemporary Art and Their Relationship to the History of Exhibiting Monstrous Bodies [2014]

Joseph Noonan-Ganley The Contagion of Desire: Two Case Studies of Appropriation Art [2018]

Kirsten Norrie Cloth, Cull and Cocktail; Anatomizing the Performer Body of 'Alba' [2012]

Tamarin Norwood Drawing: The Point Of Contact [2019]

Charles Ogilvie Outsider Cosmologies and Studio Practice [2017]

Francis Oktech Art and Conversation: Disturbation in Public Space [2013]

Jaimini Patel Modes Of Presence In The Contemporary Sculptural Encounter [2013]

Anita Paz Against Indexicality: Photography as a Formation of Thought [2018]

Simon Pope Who else takes part? Admitting the more-than-human into participatory art [2016]

Robert Rapoport The Iterative Frame: Algorithmic Video Editing, Participant Observation & The Black Box [2016]

Vid Simoniti The Epistemic Value of Contemporary Art [2015]

Flora Skivington  Tacita Dean's Representation Of Time In The British Rural Landscape [2012]

Eiko Soga Felt Knowledge: Ecologising Art and Samani Ainu Cooking [2023]

Arturo Soto Gutierrez Affective Vision: Urban Landscape Photographs and their Paratexts [2021]

Inbal Strauss Form Unfollows Function: Subversions of Functionality [2022]

Babar Suleman (I) LOVE (DICK) ISLAND: The Lifeworld of KhudiMagic [2022]

Brandon Taylor After Constructivism [2012]

Damian Taylor 'Busy Working with Materials' Transposing Form, Re-exposing Medardo Rosso [2015]

Christian Thompson Creative Responses to Australian Material Culture in the Pitt Rivers Museum Collection: Parallels between 'We Bury Our Own' and 'Mining The Museum' [2016]

Oraib Toukan Two Seconds, One Frame: On the Afterlife of Cruel Images [2019]

Naomi Vogt Inventing Ritual: Moving Images of Social Reality in Contemporary Art [2018]

Jason Waite Michi no Oku/The End of the Land: Contemporary Art in Japan and the Catastrophic Condition [2022]

Nina Wakeford NOW, SAY THIS, NOW: the re-amplification of political energies [2017]

Ruobing Wang Green Instruments: A Critical Evaluation Of Environmental Concerns In Contemporary Chinese Art [2010]

Curtis Winter The Recollections: The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) [2020]

Farniyaz Zaker Allegories of the Veil [2015]

Ruskin School of Art 74 High Street Oxford OX1 4BG Email: [email protected] Tel: +44(0) 1865 276 940

128 Bullingdon Road Oxford OX4 1QP

For graduate study enquiries Email: [email protected] Tel: +44(0)1865 276941

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Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art

The Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA) is an key part of the School of Archaeology, with the laboratories and other facilities to support research involving the use of scientific methods within Archaeology.  Founded in 1955, it played a key role in pioneering scientific approaches in interdisciplinary research, and today provides a unique environment for state-of-the-art research in this area.

The main laboratories and study areas for graduate students of Archaeological Science are based in the Dyson Perrins building, adjacent to the Departments of Earth Sciences and Geography, with which there are close ties and some shared facilities.  Just across the road in 1 South Parks Rd, are the seminars and teaching space for Masters students in Archaeological Science.  The RLAHA includes the following main elements:

• The Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), including an MICADAS AMS for radiocarbon measurement, associated sample pre-treatment facilities, compound specific analysis facilities (HPLC, GC-MS, SFE/SFC).
• The Wellcome Trust Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network   (PalaoBARN) is based here, with its specially built ancient DNA facility in another building nearby.
• The Bioarchaeology laboratory, including access to chemical preparation areas and facilities for stable isotope analysis.
• Tephrochronology facilities including an electron microprobe and dedicated laboratory for the preparation of crypto-tephra samples.
• The Luminescence Laboratory, with facilities for Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating and for research into novel luminescence techniques.
• Materials analysis laboratories with the facilities to use many different techniques (SEM, light microscopy, XRF) for the study of a whole range of archaeological materials.

The RLAHA is there to provide a suitable environment for anything from large research projects to student projects. It is also central to our teaching in Archaeological Science.

Michael Tite  the first Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science writes: 

A physicist, Lord Cherwell, who as Professor Lindemann was Director of the Clarendon Laboratory, was a prime mover in the creation of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art. Lord Cherwell was concerned by the implied lesser status of the sciences in academic circles, and wanted to show that science could make significant contributions to research in subjects such as archaeology. As a result, he initiated research into the development of an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for the non-destructive analysis of archaeological material with Edward (Teddy) Hall as the responsible DPhil student. In addition to the analysis of ancient pottery and coins, the equipment was used to show that chromium had been used to stain the Piltdown skull, suggesting that the skull had been tampered with, thus providing one of the early pieces of evidence that Piltdown man was a forgery.

In consequence of this research, Lord Cherwell consulted with Christopher Hawkes, the Professor of European Archaeology, and at a dinner at Christ Church, the two of them plus Teddy Hall plotted to create the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art,  the Research Laboratory finally being established in 1955 with Teddy Hall, who was now Dr Hall, as its first Director. As far as its administration was concerned, the Research Laboratory did not come under either Physics or Archaeology, but was regulated by a committee of the General Board, and this arrangement continued until just before Teddy Hall’s (now Professor Hall) retirement in 1989 when the Research Laboratory became affiliated to the Committee for Archaeology.

Subsequently, Professor Hawkes was responsible for coining the word Archaeometry as the title for what, in 1958, started as the Bulletin of the Research Laboratory and later became an international journal.  

Finally, before retiring, Professor Hall raised the necessary funding to establish a Chair in Archaeological Science, something that was especially crucial since Professor Hall himself had never received a salary from the University. Thus, in 1989, Michael Tite was appointed as the first Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science and Director of the Research Laboratory.

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Volume 47, Issue 1, March 2024

Art and the actuarial imagination: propositions.

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‘Infidelity, Imposture, and Bad Faith’: Reproducing an Insurance Bubble

The sun is god: turner,  angerstein, and insurance, charles meryon’s graphic risks, sculpting the ‘idea of insurance’: john quincy adams ward’s protection group and the rise of the american life sector, ars longa, vita brevis : the fine art & general insurance company, ltd, art and insurance after the era of statistics, book reviews, viewing broken things, the spectacle of crime, a feminist queering, notes on contributors, email alerts.

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The Khalili Research Centre

Oxford University's centre for the study of Middle Eastern art and material culture

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The history of natural hazards in the philippines.

• Gregory Bankoff Gregory Bankoff Department of History, Ateneo de Manila University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.821
• Published online: 21 August 2024

The danger from natural hazards is omnipresent in the Philippines. Disasters like typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fires, among others, occur so often that they have become embedded in socioeconomic norms and practices and, over time, communities have learned to adapt to their regularity. Typhoons, and the epiphenomenal floods that too habitually accompany them, have caused more loss of life and property than any other natural hazard, and the magnitude and frequency of both are only likely to increase with climate change. Earthquakes not only have repeatedly racked urban centers and rural neighborhoods, leading to tremendous destruction and loss of life, but in the 21st century also threaten the cultural heritage of the nation. Volcanic eruptions have punctuated the history of the archipelago, causing significant population movement as well as economic disruption. Urban fires, largely the product of colonial settlement, remain a largely hidden and unrecorded menace, especially in areas of more informal housing that ring most modern population centers. In sum, the constant exposure to these risks has played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s historical development and in influencing its contemporary culture.

• Philippines
• earthquakes

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date: 27 August 2024

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16 Best Art & Design schools in Saint Petersburg

Updated: February 29, 2024

• Art & Design
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Environmental Science
• Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
• Mathematics

Below is a list of best universities in Saint Petersburg ranked based on their research performance in Art & Design. A graph of 43.5K citations received by 9.67K academic papers made by 16 universities in Saint Petersburg was used to calculate publications' ratings, which then were adjusted for release dates and added to final scores.

We don't distinguish between undergraduate and graduate programs nor do we adjust for current majors offered. You can find information about granted degrees on a university page but always double-check with the university website.

Please note that our approach to subject rankings is based on scientific outputs and heavily biased on art-related topics towards institutions with computer science research profiles.

1. St. Petersburg State University

For Art & Design

2. ITMO University

3. Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University

4. Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University

5. Leningrad State University

6. St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering

7. European University at St. Petersburg

8. Saint-Petersburg Mining University

9. Bonch-Bruevich St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications

10. St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation

11. St. Petersburg State University of Economics

12. Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology

13. Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University

14. Russian State Hydrometeorological University

15. Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical Academy

16. Baltic State Technical University "Voenmeh"

Universities for Art & Design near Saint Petersburg

Art & Design subfields in Saint Petersburg

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Konstantin Korotkov, PhD (Fellow)

Professor dr. konstantin korotkov, ph.d., deputy director of saint-petersburg federal research institute of physical culture., professor of computer science and biophysics at saint-petersburg federal university of informational technologies, mechanics and optics., professor of research in saint petersburg academy of physical culture., president of the international union for medical and applied bioelectrography., consultant for aveda co (usa)., member of the editorial board: journal of alternative and complementary medicine, journal of science of healing outcomes., prof. korotkov has published over 200 papers in leading journals on physics and biology, and he holds 17 patents on biophysics inventions. prof. korotkov has led a research career for over 30 years, combining rigorous scientific method with an insatiable curiosity about things of the spirit and the soul with deep respect for all life. he is also a scholar in philosophy and a serious mountaineer of 25 years experience. he has given lectures, seminars and training sessions in 43 countries, presenting papers and workshops at more than 100 national and international conferences., konstantin is the author of 9 books; most are translated to english, french, german, italian and spanish, including, light after life: experiments and ideas on after-death changes of kirlian pictures , usa 1998;   aura and consciousness – new stage of scientific understanding , russian ministry of culture, 1998; human energy fields: study with gdv bioelectrography , usa 2002;  spiral traverse , (usa) 2006; and he’s an editor of the book: measuring energy fields: state of the art . gdv bioelectrography series, usa 2004., at the v congress of the international union of medical and applied bioelectrography (iumab) in curitiba, brasil, (brazil, in usa) in 2001, prof. korotkov was elected as president of the iumab by the world’s most prominent researchers. he was re-elected as a president in 2005 and 2010.  konstantin is a member of the federal university scientific board on new medical technologies, member of the scientific board of the european society of predictive medicine (france) and of the editorial board of the «journal of alternative and complementary medicine» (usa)., prof. kototkov’s scientific line, known as the electrophotonics, is based on gas discharge visualization technique (gdv), is a breakthrough beyond kirlian photography for direct, real-time viewing of the human energy fields. this new technology allows one to capture (by a special camera) the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy emanating to and from an individual, plants, liquids, powders, inanimate objects and translate this into a computerized model. this allows researcher and client to see imbalances that may be influencing an individual’s well-being greatly facilitating the diagnosis of the cause of any existing imbalances showing the area of the body and the organ systems involved. one of the greatest benefits to date is the ability to do “real-time” measurements of a variety of treatments for such conditions as cancer to determine which is the most appropriate for the client., the incredible implications for the diagnosis and treatment of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual conditions with applications in medicine, psychology, sound therapy, biophysics, genetics, forensic science, agriculture, ecology etc. have only just begun.  the epc/gdv technique is accepted by russian ministry of health as a medical technology and certified in europe. more than 1,000 doctors, practitioners and researchers benefit from using this technology worldwide. more than 150 papers are published on gdv in different countries., download https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bio-well-revolutionary-instrument-to-reveal-energy/f4f0dc08a4ade1d148076fee5a45b7d36087d5c3, (bio-well, a revolutionary instrument to reveal energy fields of human and nature, 3.4 mb pdf), neu schools, helpful links.

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MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture

• Entry requirements
• Funding and Costs

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• How to Apply

About the course

This nine-month programme offers a unique combination of methodological depth and access to excellent primary sources for students who wish to develop and extend their understanding of how visual styles at different times and in different places can be understood in relation to the aesthetic, intellectual and social facets of various cultures.

This course draws on the established strengths of the discipline of art history in formal, iconographic and contextual analysis in the Faculty of History's  History of Art Department and links them to a rigorous approach to questions of theory and method. 

The course will expose you to the ways in which the subjects of visual history are being redefined on a broad base to include a much wider range of artefacts and visual media, including images and objects produced in contexts ranging from the scientific to the popular.

Teaching comprises:

• a compulsory methodology paper, Issues in Art History, which is taught in a seminar series during Michaelmas and Hilary terms. There is also an associated lecture series, workshops on professional practice and object-handling sessions in Oxford collections.
• one option paper, normally taught in small classes during Michaelmas and Hilary terms. 

Full details of core and optional papers are available on the course webpage on the department's website (see the Further information and enquiries section for further details).

You will also write a dissertation of up to 15,000 words, which will be submitted in Trinity term (see the Assessment section below for further details).

It is expected that about 25% of a student’s time will be spent as self-directed research and study.

Example option papers

Some of the option papers will not be available every year, and new ones may be added.

Prospective students should check on the availability of specific courses during the application process by visiting the course webpage on the department's website (see the  Further information and enquiries  section for further details).

As an example, the options papers for students enrolled in the 2021-22 academic year were:

The Politics of Modernism: Art in France, 1880-1914

Tutor: Professor Alastair Wright

The course examines modernist art produced in France in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, interrogating how diverse artistic practices engaged with the politics of class, gender, and race. Topics will include the relationship between art and mass culture; modernism’s affiliations with both reactionary and revolutionary ideologies of the ‘popular’; the gendering of modern art in period accounts and in later art historical narratives; the connections between modernism and French colonialism; and the encounter with African art and myths of the ‘primitive’. To explore these issues, the writings of artists and their contemporaries will be examined alongside recent art-historical work and a range of theoretical texts on questions relevant to the materials of the course.

Gothic to Renaissance? Reframing Architecture in Europe and Beyond

Tutor: Dr Costanza Beltrami

The Gothic and the Renaissance have long been viewed as two distinct artistic periods or ‘styles’ in neat succession. But what are the chronological, geographical, and conceptual limits of Gothic and Renaissance architecture? What happens if we recast late-Gothic architecture as a global phenomenon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?

In addition to canonical examples from England, France, and Germany, late-Gothic buildings were erected (and decorated) in newly conquered territories such as the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Santo Domingo. In their materials and decorations, these new foundations responded to local contexts, in spite of being based on models brought from overseas. As the Gothic and other European traditions became global phenomena, they were increasingly in competition with new Renaissance designs. Architecture thus embodies a complex process of cultural interweaving: innovative late-Gothic buildings continued to appear at the height of the Renaissance; master masons constructed dynamic hybrids of different architectural modes; and linear conceptions of influence from the Italian ‘centre’ to global peripheries are dispelled by the intensity of artistic exchanges.

Challenging the perception of the Renaissance as a watershed in the emergence of architectural and cultural modernity, this course will place Gothic and Renaissance buildings not in opposition, but in dialogue. Uniquely, it will invite associations and conversations which are still relatively unexplored in architectural history. We will examine issues of reuse, communication, adaptation, exchange, and hybridisation on continental and intercontinental scales. Additionally, we will take into account the international trade networks where raw materials and luxury artworks were exported and imported, as well as the structures which enabled and enshrined commercial and territorial domination. Finally, we will study both religious and secular structures as lived-in, multi-media creations at the heart of networks of production and communication. This approach to architecture will enable students to develop personal research interests in other media, such as micro-architecture, sculpture or drawing.

Histories of Photography

Tutor: Professor Geoffrey Batchen, Professor of History of Art

Participants in this seminar class will be invited to write a version of their own history of photography. The class will begin by looking at the history of that history, and will then consider various alternatives to it. Attention will be paid to the problems of writing such a history, a quite particular challenge given the mobility and reproducibility of the photograph, and thus its reluctance to adhere to the usual art historical categories (originality, medium specificity, chronology, nationalism, biography, style, genre, and so on). Each of these ways of doing art history will nevertheless be considered, and equivalent photographic examples critically analysed. Case studies to be considered include histories of the photography produced in Africa and in the British Empire. Participants will be asked to write research essays that demonstrate their own approach to a particular kind of history of photography.

Global Perspectives on American Art: Latinx Art and Activism

Tutor: Charlene Villaseñor Black, Terra Foundation Visiting Professor of American Art

This course expands the definition of “American” art by examining art created by minoritized populations in the US, with a particular focus on Latinx art in the 20th Century. The class begins by querying the definition of “American” art, the inclusion of Latinx art in the canon, and the evolving terminology employed in its study (including the “x” as indicative of both gender inclusivity and indigeneity). Latinx art has always manifested an uneasy relationship with mainstream artistic institutions - the museum, art history, art criticism. As a public art created in opposition to established elite institutions such as the museum, as well as a popular art that admits low riders and home altars as the objects of scholarly study, Latinx art raises important questions about the very nature of art history and criticism. This class will focus on 20th-century Latinx cultural production and its relationship to activism, with a particular focus on alternative cultural spaces. Topics to be considered include prints, murals, photography, sculpture, and performance in light of theories of decoloniality, feminism, the Neobaroque, rasquache aesthetics, and global modernisms/postmodernisms.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Department of History of Art and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under some circumstances a supervisor outside the Department of History of Art may be nominated. 

Supervisors will meet with their students weekly in Michaelmas and Hilary terms to teach the option paper, and will also offer at least five hours dedicated supervision for the dissertation. 

An Oxford academic’s pre-application indication of willingness to supervise an enquiring applicant is not a guarantee that the applicant will be offered a place, or that the supervisor in question has capacity in that particular year.

You will write a dissertation under the guidance of an expert supervisor, on a topic of your choice and approved by the supervisor and the chair of examiners for the programme. The dissertation is submitted in Trinity term.

In addition to the dissertation, assessment will take the form of exams and assessed essays. For the compulsory methodology paper you will write three short essays in an examination.

The option paper is assessed through one short methodological or historiographic essay and one research project. Students receive one-on-one supervision when preparing their essays.

If you wish to apply for a doctoral programme, at Oxford or elsewhere, you will be encouraged to develop your doctoral proposal during the first few months of the course so that you will be well placed to make doctoral applications during or soon after completing the course.

Graduate destinations

About a quarter of master’s students proceed directly to doctoral work at Oxford or at other institutions, with additional students applying to doctoral programmes within a year or two of completing the degree. Other career destinations include museums and galleries, the heritage sector, media/publishing (including online), fine arts and teaching, as well as fields such as banking, law and the civil service.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in a relevant discipline in the humanities or social sciences.

Most successful applicants have a degree in a humanities subject such as history of art, history, English, modern languages, Classics, theology, philosophy, archaeology or anthropology. Graduates in fine art who have excellent research and writing skills will also be considered. Applicants with social science and sometimes even science degrees have also been admitted provided they can make a persuasive application that attests to their interest in the visual arts, broadly defined, and demonstrates excellent preparation for the course’s research and writing demands. A degree in history of art is not a requirement and approximately half of each cohort will have completed an undergraduate degree in another subject. 

Your submitted written work should show your writing and research skills in their best light, as it will be important to show that you have the necessary skills required for art historical research.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.75 out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

• In the case of mature students/intended career changes professional experience in cognate areas may compensate for shortcomings in the formal academic record. 
• Publications are not required.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews are not normally held as part of the admissions process.

Assessors may get in touch with an applicant by email in case of any queries, but this is rare.

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

Intellectual life and community

Working as an Oxford graduate student is an exhilarating experience. The  History of Art Department brings together a tightly knit community of scholars working on a wide range of periods and subjects, including associated academics working on visual culture more widely.

Students are also integrated into the wider Faculty of History, which includes scholars working from circa 300 AD to the present, and embraces an exceptionally broad geographical range. It comprises an active research community of up to 800 academics and graduate students. The faculty’s research is organised around  historical periods, research centres, or in collaborative and individual research projects , and graduates are key participants in the wide range of seminars, workshops and conferences run by the Faculty of History.

Further opportunities for exchange are provided by the interdisciplinary communities fostered within individual colleges, which also offer dedicated support for graduates by means of personal advisors. The department's Centre for Visual Studies and The Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities ( TORCH ) offers a stimulating range of interdisciplinary activities. You are also encouraged join the Oxford History Graduate Network (OHGN) , which fosters friendships, conversations and collaboration.

The Oxford environment provides a unique opportunity to develop intellectual curiosity whilst remaining focused on one’s own work without becoming blinkered - an integral part of a successful graduate career. 

Libraries and archives

Graduates in Oxford are fortunate in having access to over a hundred libraries. The University's core research resource in the Humanities are the Bodleian Libraries, whose combined collections contain more than 11 million printed items, in addition to more than 50,000 e-journals and a vast quantity of manuscripts, maps, music and other materials, including the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, a major research centre for the study of art history and the ancient world.

The Bodleian Libraries’  Special Collections Department attracts scholars from all over the world. Further strengths include the countless databases and digital resources currently offered by the Bodleian and being developed through Oxford’s  Digital Humanities programme .

Graduates are also able to draw on the specialist resources offered by the  Bodleian History Faculty Library which provides dedicated  support and training courses for all graduates. They also have access to the many college libraries and to college archives which can house significant collections of personal papers as well as institutional records dating back to the middle ages. There are also major research libraries as well as libraries attached to faculties, departments and other institutions.

Museums, collections and galleries

Few universities in the world boast the quality and range of Oxford’s collections, which provide an invaluable basis for the study of all forms of art. The Ashmolean Museum, Pitt Rivers Museum, Christ Church Picture Gallery, Museum of the History of Science, Modern Art Oxford and other museum collections – together with the wealth of architectural monuments in the city – are an integral part of studying at Oxford. The department’s own Visual Resources Centre is available for student use. Students have the opportunity to work closely with curators on individual objects from many cultures. From drawings by Raphael to totem poles, the range of possibilities is vast.

This range of resources for art historians differentiates the Oxford programme from others.

Departments offering this course

This course is offered jointly by the following departments:

History of Art Department

Oxford is an outstandingly exciting setting for the study of the history of art. Although art history has traditionally concentrated on the ‘fine’ arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, it shares many of its fundamental questions and methods with related disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, literary studies, and political, social and cultural history. The department is uniquely positioned to reflect this cross-disciplinary potential. 

Working within the Faculty of History, teaching and research is supported by world-class museums, galleries and collections, including the Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Libraries, Christ Church Picture Gallery, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Museum of the History of Science, and Modern Art Oxford, as well as The Ruskin School of Art.

The core academic staff of the department work on subjects from medieval European architecture to modern Chinese art, and over fifty associated academic staff include teachers and researchers across the full global and historical range of art and visual culture. This offers students the opportunity to take courses and receive supervision on a very wide range of topics and develop individual interests in art history.

View all courses   View taught courses View research courses

Faculty of History

History in Oxford stretches from c 300 to the present, and embraces in addition to its British and European heritage an exceptionally broad range of World history. It comprises an active research community of up to 800 senior academics and graduate students, all contributing to a range of research seminars, lectures, academic societies, and personal contacts.

Research in the faculty is organised around historical periods and research centres, or in collaborative and individual research projects, and you will always be welcome at seminars, workshops and conferences across all periods and themes.

You will be encouraged to make use of these opportunities as widely as possible without endangering your own degree work. Striking the right balance between intellectual curiosity and temptation and intellectual discipline, and remaining focused without becoming blinkered, should be an integral part of a successful graduate career. The Oxford environment provides all the ingredients for this.

The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the department's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Information about course fees

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

There are no compulsory elements of this course that entail additional costs beyond fees and living costs. However, as part of your course requirements, you may need to choose a dissertation, a project or a thesis topic. Please note that, depending on your choice of topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Living costs

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students on the MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture:

• Blackfriars
• Brasenose College
• Campion Hall
• Christ Church
• Corpus Christi College
• Exeter College
• Harris Manchester College
• Hertford College
• Keble College
• Kellogg College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Linacre College
• Lincoln College
• Magdalen College
• New College
• Oriel College
• The Queen's College
• Regent's Park College
• St Anne's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Edmund Hall
• St Hilda's College
• St Hugh's College
• St John's College
• St Peter's College
• Somerville College
• Trinity College
• Wadham College
• Wolfson College
• Worcester College
• Wycliffe Hall

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines and when to apply  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable per course application. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

You do not need to contact anyone in the faculty before you apply and you are not responsible for finding your own supervisor. However, you are strongly encouraged to familiarise yourself with the research expertise within the department when preparing your research proposal, to make sure that there is a supervisor available in the same area as your proposed project. Offers will only be made if appropriate supervision is available. The faculty determines supervision arrangements, taking due account of the workload and commitments of its academics. If you are made an offer, a supervisor will be assigned to you, and identified in the offer letter.

If you are not sure who to contact, or if you think your topic is out of the ordinary and/or requires a specialist supervisor, please contact the department via the contact details provided on this page (see the  Further information and enquiries  section for further details).

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents .

For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application .

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Proposed field and title of research project

Under the 'Field and title of research project' please enter your proposed field or area of research if this is known. If the department has advertised a specific research project that you would like to be considered for, please enter the project title here instead.

You should not use this field to type out a full research proposal. You will be able to upload your research supporting materials separately if they are required (as described below).

Proposed supervisor

It is not necessary for you to identify a potential supervisor in your application.

However, please check that a supervisor with expertise in your proposed area of research is available before applying. Details can be found on the department's website. You are free to consult a specialist in your field for advice on your project, if you think that would be helpful.

Referees Three overall, academic preferred

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

References should generally be academic, though if you are returning to study after extended periods of non-academic employment then you are welcome to nominate professional referees where it would be impractical to call on your previous university tutors.

Your references will support intellectual ability, academic achievement, motivation, ability to work in both a group environment and sustained individual and self-motivated investigation.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

Statement of purpose/personal statement: A minimum of 500 to a maximum of 1,000 words

Your statement should convince the faculty that you have the right intellectual qualities, academic knowledge and skills to undertake the course. It should focus on how you see the course as building upon your previous study, and what you hope to do with the qualifications you gain from the University, rather than on personal achievements and aspirations.

You should discuss what kinds of problems and issues you hope to engage with; what the current state of your knowledge and understanding of these is, and how you hope to advance that. 

You should clearly indicate your first and second choices for the option course and suggest a possible master’s dissertation topic, including an indication of relevant background preparation. Please check the availability of specific option courses in the academic year for which you are applying and make clear in your statement why you wish to take the specific option(s) you have selected. The list of confirmed option courses for 2022-23  can be found on the department's website. Please ensure that you select option courses only from the confirmed list for entry in 2022-23. 

In your statement of purpose, you should also sketch out a preliminary research proposal and title for your intended dissertation. This should supply a research question identifying the central issue or problem with which you intend to grapple, some account of the current state of scholarship in this area and an indication of the kinds of sources you hope to use. You only need to submit one document overall, combining this research proposal into your statement of purpose.

Your statement must be written in English. A bibliography may also be provided, if relevant; if so, it is not included in the word count, though any footnotes should be included.

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

It is anticipated that your ideas will change and develop once you have begun the programme and have been exposed to new approaches, sources and methods. However, students applying to this course are expected to have a clear sense of the kind of research they wish to undertake.

This will be assessed for:

• your reasons for applying
• evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study
• the coherence of the proposal, the ability to present a reasoned case in English
• commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree programme
• reasoning ability
• ability to absorb new ideas, often presented abstractly, at a rapid pace.

Your proposal should focus on the relevance of the programme you are applying for to your education, and on the academic merits of your intended course dissertation rather than personal achievements, interests and aspirations. Proposing a preliminary title for your dissertation project will be advantageous.

Written work: An academic writing sample of no more than 4,000 words in total length

Written work should be from your most recent completed qualification, but does not need to relate closely to your proposed area of study. Extracts from a longer piece of work are welcome, but please include a preface which puts the work in context.

The work will be assessed for your:

• understanding of problems in the area
• ability to construct and defend an argument
• powers of analysis
• powers of expression.

It must be submitted in English (if this work has been translated, you must indicate if the translations are your own, or what assistance you had in producing the English text).

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document. Any footnotes should be included in the word count. A bibliography may also be provided and is not included in the word count.

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice . You'll find the answers to most common queries in our FAQs.

Application Guide   Apply

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 5 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships Final application deadline for entry in 2024-25

*Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the History of Art Department  within the Faculty of History

• Course page  (including list of option courses ) on the History of Art website
• Funding information from the department
• Academic and research staff
• Humanities Division
• Residence requirements for full-time courses
• Postgraduate applicant privacy policy

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected]

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

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Mikhail Lomonosov

Born: Denisovka, Archangelsk Province - 19 November 1711 Died: St. Petersburg - 15 April 1765

Mikhail Lomonosov was the great polymath of the Russian Enlightenment. Born in the deepest provinces of Northern Russia, he managed to gain a first-class education through a combination of natural intelligence and sheer force of will, and went on to make significant advances in several fields of science, as well as writing one of the first Russian grammars, several volumes of history, and a great quantity of poetry. In short, he was instrumental in pulling Russia further into the modern world, and in helping to make St. Petersburg a centre of learning as great as almost any in Europe.

Lomonosov was born in the village of Denisovka (now Lomonosovo), a village about 100 kilometers south-east of Arkhangelsk on the Severnaya Dvina river. His father was a peasant fisherman who had grown rich transporting goods from Arkhangelsk to settlements in the far north. His mother, the daughter of a deacon, died when he was very young, but not before she had taught him to read. From the age of ten, he accompanied his father on voyages to learn the business.

In 1730, however, determined to study, he ran away from home and walked over 1 000 kilometers to Moscow. Claiming to be the son of a provincial priest, he was able to enroll in the Slavic Greek Latin Academy, where he studied for five years before being sent on to St. Petersburg's Academic University. The following year (1736), he was a select group of outstanding students sponsored by the Academy of Sciences to study mathematics, chemistry, physics, philosophy and metallurgy in Western Europe. Lomonosov spent three years at the University of Marburg as a personal student of the philosopher Christian Wolff, then a year studying mining and metallurgy in Saxony, and a further year travelling in Germany and the Low Countries. While in Marburg, he fell in love with and married his landlady's daughter, Elizabeth Christine Zilch.

Due to lack of funds to support his young family, Lomonosov returned to St. Petersburg at the end of 1741, and was immediately appointed adjunct to the physics class at the Academy of Sciences. In 1745 he became the Academy's first Russian-born Professor of Chemistry, and in 1748 the first chemical research laboratory in Russia was built for him.

Throughout his career at the Academy, Lomonosov was a passionate advocate for making education in Russia more accessible to the lower ranks of Russian society. He campaigned to give public lectures in Russian and for the translation into Russian of more scientific texts. In this, he found himself in conflict with one of the founders of the Academy, the German ethnologist Gerhard Friedrich Miller (whose views on the importance of Scandinavians and Germans in Russian history Lomonosov also hotly disputed). By composing and presenting at an official Assembly of the Academy in 1749 his ode to the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Lomonosov gained considerable favour at court and a powerful ally in his pedagogical endeavours in the form of Elizaveta's lover, Count Ivan Shuvalov. Together, Lomonosov and Shuvalov founded Moscow University in 1755. It was also thanks to Shuvalov's influence that the Empress granted Lomonosov a manor and four surrounding villages at Ust-Ruditsa, where he was able to implement his plan to open a mosaic and glass factory, the first outside Italy to produce stained glass mosaics.

By 1758, Lomonosov's responsibilities included overseeing the Academy's Geography Department, Historical Assembly, University and Gymnasium, the latter of which he again insisted on making open to lowborn Russians. In 1760, he was appointed a foreign member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, and in 1764 he was similarly honoured by the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna. The same year, he was granted by Elizaveta Petrovna the rank of Secretary of State. He died 4 April 1765, and was buried in the Lazarev Cemetery of St. Petersburg's Alexander Nevsky Monastery.

Much of Lomonosov's work was unknown outside Russia until many years after his death, and even now it is more the extraordinary breadth of his inquiry and understanding, rather than any specific grand advancements in a particular field, that make him such a seminal figure in Russian science. Among the highlights of his academic career were his discovery of an atmosphere around Venus, his assertion of the Law of Conservation of Mass (nearly two decades before Antoine Lavoisier), and his development of a prototype of the Herschelian telescope. In 1764, he arranged the expedition along the northern coast of Siberia that discovered the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. His works also contained intuitions of the wave theory of light and the theory of continental drift. He made improvements to navigational instruments and demonstrated the organic origin of soil, peat, coal, petroleum and amber. Without knowledge of Da Vinci's work, he developed a working prototype of a helicopter.

He wrote the first guide to rhetoric in the Russian language, and his Russian Grammar was among the first to codify the language. His Ancient Russian History compared the development of Russia to the development of the Roman Empire, a theme that would become increasingly popular in the 19th century. His poetry was much praised during his lifetime, although it has been largely ignored by posterity.

Lomonosov is remembered in central St. Petersburg in the names of Ulitsa Lomonosova ("Lomonosov Street"), Ploshchad Lomonosova ("Lomonosov Square") and the adjacent bridge across the Fontanka River. During the Soviet Period, his name was given to the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, and hence to the nearby metro station, Lomonosovskaya. The Soviets also renamed the suburban town of Oranienburg as Lomonosovo. In 1986, a magnificent monument to Lomonosov was unveiled in front of the Twelve Colleges, the main campus of St. Petersburg State University, acknowledging the enormous debt that institution owes the great polymath who is rightfully considered the father of Russian science.

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