Dr Anya Burgon

I’m an Affiliated Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Cambridge and a Bye-Fellow at Lucy Cavendish. Before that, until October 2025, I was Schulman Research Fellow in the History of Art at Trinity Hall; and before that I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of York where I taught in the English Department. It was on my BA, also at Cambridge, that I first became fascinated by the art of the Middle Ages. For me, the medieval period holds an endlessly fruitful mirror to the present. It helps us to understand the importance of faith and belief even in a seemingly ‘secular’ age; it shows a more conscientious attitude to nature; it helps us see past modern categories, and how understanding and imagination are intertwined; and its art and literature remind us (in the era of scrolling) of humanity’s great capacity for attention, patience, and meditation. My PhD, now a forthcoming book, was on the importance of the artificer and crafting in medieval literature; more recently, I’ve been working on articles and a new book considering the ethical aspiration to a ‘view from above’ in the medieval imaginary. In terms of teaching art history, I’ve taught classes and assessed work on a huge range of topics, medieval to modern; I’ve also taught a seminar course on medieval literature. I have experience instructing a variety of student ages and cohorts. My experiences at PACE always stand out: adult learners bring an enthusiasm, a spirit of curiosity untrammelled by teenage self-consciousness, and a willingness to connect up materials to their own life experiences or previous learning that is uniquely inspiring and motivating for a teacher.