Dr Claudine van Hensbergen

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests 

I work on literary culture of the period 1640–1740, with a particular interest in sculpture and visual culture, history of the book, theatre and women’s writing. Current projects include: a monograph, The Making of Monument in Britain, 1660-1736, exploring the emergence of public monumental culture; an edition of Behn's selected works for the Oxford University Press 21st-Century Authors series; and a short monograph for Cambridge University Press, "Behn's Two Bodies: A Cultural History of Aphra Behn's Grave".

I have an ongoing research interest in better connecting the scholarly recovery of women writers with the wider public and led on the 2023 unveiling of a commemorative plaque for Mary Astell (1666–1731) in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Between 2019-2023 I was an AHRC Leadership Fellow for the project “Learning through the Art Gallery: Art, Literature and Disciplinarity” for a project run in partnership with the Laing Art Gallery. Our project developed a new learning offer for KS4/5 English pupils visiting the Laing. We aim to demonstrate how art collections can help pupils to develop and improve their study of language, literature and creative writing, whilst inspiring their wider interest in the Arts. To find out more about the project please visit our website.

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Women Writers and the Creative Arts in Great Britain, 1660–1830, van Hensbergen, C., Moss, H. 2023, In: Women's Writing
• From Honour to Honesty: Desiring eyes in Aphra Behn’s Poetry and Sir Peter Lely's Portraiture, van Hensbergen, C. 2023, In: Women's Writing
• Aphra Behn: Portraiture and the Biographical Account, Van Hensbergen, C. 1 Jun 2021, In: The Review of English Studies
• The "Scaene of Elysium": Painters, Plaintiffs and Paradise in John Dryden's 'Tyrannick Love' (1669), van Hensbergen, C. 7 May 2021, In: Theatralia
• The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe: The Late Plays, Bernard, S., van Hensbergen, C. 26 Oct 2016
• Print, Poetry and Posterity: Grinling Gibbons’s statue of Charles II (1684) for the Royal Exchange, van Hensbergen, C. 1 Dec 2020, In: Sculpture Journal
• The Female Wits: Gender, Satire, and Drama, Van Hensbergen, C. 30 Jul 2019, The Oxford Handbook of Eighteenth-Century Satire, Oxford, Oxford University Press
• Anne Oldfield’s Domestic Interiors: Auctions, Material Culture and Celebrity, Van Hensbergen, C. 20 Jun 2018, Intimacy and Celebrity in Eighteenth-Century Literary Culture, Springer
• Unlocking The Cabinet of Love: Rochester, Reputation and the Eighteenth-Century Miscellany, van Hensbergen, C. Jan 2017, In: Eighteenth-Century Life
• Public Sculpture of Queen Anne: The Minehead Commission (1715), van Hensbergen, C. 3 May 2016, Court, Country, City: Essays on British Art and Architecture, 1660--1735, Yale University Press

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Water Works 2022

• Malcolm Clements The Politics and Principles of Taste and Display in the Homes of Sir Lawrence Dundas (1712-1781) Start Date: 21/06/2023
• Ella Nixon Beyond the National: Gender and the Regional Art Gallery Start Date: 01/10/2020
• John Hemy Reinscribing the Past: Morality, History, and Drama in the Works of Samuel Johnson, c.1726-1781 Start Date: 07/10/2014 End Date: 07/11/2018

Teaching Interests 

At Northumbria, I teach on the following modules: 

* Research Methods: Traditional and Digital (Masters-level core module) 

* Writing Women: Aphra Behn in Focus (3rd-year optional module) 

* Working with our Cultural Heritage (2nd-year optional employability module) 

* Historical Fiction (2nd-year optional module)

• BA (Hons)
• MSt
• DPhil
• Associate Fellow Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• I am the co-founder (with Dr. David Taylor, Oxford) of the 18th-Century Literature and Visual Culture Research Network.
• My AHRC-funded project, Learning through the Art Gallery, involves a collaboration between Northumbria English staff and the learning teams of the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, and the Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead.