With the support of the Murnane Travel Grant and the Arts and Sciences Graduate Research Small Grant, PhD candidate Maggie Wilson traveled to Europe this summer to conduct research on several of her dissertation case studies. Maggie was able to travel to London, Belgium, Switzerland, and southern Germany to visit historical sites and collections as well as meet with experts in late-medieval convent art.

A highlight of Maggie’s trip was her visit to the Hidden Gems exhibition at the Museum Hof van Busleyden in Mechelen, Belgium where she was able to view two of the sixteenth-century Enclosed Garden Reliquary Sculptures of the Mechelen Hospital Convent. These stunning works are one of the key objects of Maggie’s dissertation, which will focus on the production of artworks in and around the boundaries of conventual enclosure. Maggie was thrilled to meet with the curator of the exhibition and discuss many of the mysteries that still surround the eclectic reliquary gardens.

Maggie also visited the National History Museum in Zürich, where she was able to view a massive tapestry of the Mystic Hunt of the Unicorn. The final leg of her trip was to Konstanz, Germany, the production site of the Katharinenthal sculpture of Christ and John. Through visits to the Rosengarten Museum of Konstanz and the Baden-Wurttemberg Archaeology Museum Maggie discovered that the maritime trade of the medieval city may have played an important role in the patronage and transportation of her case study.