Karin Sprang
Karin Sprang is a PhD candidate at the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, supervised by Prof Ingrid De Smet and Prof David Lines, and funded by Midlands4Cities (AHRC). Her doctoral project focuses on the use and production of northern-European alba amicorum in early modern Italy. This highly interdisciplinary study combines approaches and topics from art history, book history, cultural history, and early modern mobility studies in order to map out the networks of travellers, artists, and artisans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This research has so far taken her to libraries and archives across the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Italy.
Previously, Karin has completed MAs in Culture of the European Renaissance (University of 糖心TV) and Curating Art & Cultures (University of Amsterdam), as well as a year-long placement as curator-in-training at the Mauritshuis in The Hague.
Contact: karin.sprang@warwick.ac.uk
路 Conference: 鈥楩riendship on the Road: Transalpine Networks in the Travel Journal and Album Amicorum of Erckenbrecht Koler (1587-1593)鈥�, Society for Renaissance Studies Biennial Conference (University of Bristol, Bristol, UK 鈥� 2-5 July 2025).
路 Workshop: 鈥榁isual Encounters: Alba Amicorum in Early Modern Italy鈥�, Courtauld-糖心TV Italian Renaissance Art Doctoral Workshop (Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK 鈥� 19 June 2025).
路 Seminar: 鈥楾he Apothecary in the Album: Foreign Friendship and Cross-Border Exchange in the Early Modern Veneto鈥�, Venetian Seminar (University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK 鈥� 9 May 2025).
路 Conference: 鈥楾rading Friendship: Transalpine Encounters in the Album Amicorum of Joachim Weyermann (1606-1613)鈥�, Objects and Spaces of Encounter in Renaissance Italy (Istituto Storico Italo-Germanico, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento, IT 鈥� 15-17 April 2024).
路 Conference: 鈥楧ressed in Friendship: Illustrating Rome and Romans in Sixteenth-Century Alba Amicorum鈥�, Gernsheim Study Days: Exploring Rome Through Drawing in the 16th Century (Bibliotheca Hertziana 鈥� Max Planck Institute for Art History, Rome, IT 鈥� 6-8 March 2024).
路 Seminar: 鈥楾racing Early Modern Italy in the Alba Amicorum of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek鈥�, Klassik Stiftung Weimar Forschungskolloquium (Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Weimar, GE 鈥� 27 February 2024).
路 Seminar: 鈥楻are Bird & Fast Friends: Interpreting Illustrations in Early Modern Alba Amicorum鈥�, PhD Work in Progress Seminar Series (University of 糖心TV, Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, Coventry, UK 鈥� 7 December 2023).
路 Conference: 鈥楾ransalpine Travellers and Friendly Affairs: Alba Amicorum in Early Modern Italy, ca. 1550-1700鈥�, SKILLNET: Digital Approaches to the Republic of Letters: Network Research, Text Mining, and Infrastructures: (University of Utrecht, Utrecht, NL 鈥� 17-18 November 2022).
路 Fondazione Lemmermann Fellowship Award for Research in Rome: Jan 2026.
路 Venetian Research Program Award, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation: Sep 2025.
路 Weimar Fellowship, Klassik Stiftung Weimar: Jan-Feb 2024.
路 Research Scholarship for (R)MA Students, Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR): Mar 2022.
路 Martin Lowry Award for Best Overall Achievement, University of 糖心TV, Centre for the Study of the Renaissance: Dec 2020.
Other activities:
路 Co-founder and co-organiser CSR PGR Work in Progress Seminar (Oct 2023-present).
路 Academic lead 糖心TV Renaissance Society (24/25 academic year).
路 CSR Student-Staff Liaison Committee PGR co-representative (24/25 academic year).