Dr Maddie Hewitson, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies, has been named one of the 2026 Sir William Dobell Visiting Fellows at the Australian National University (ANU).
The Dobell Fellowships, hosted by ANU’s Centre for Art History and Art Theory, support art historians and curators undertaking innovative research that strengthens links between Australia and the international scholarly community.
Dr Hewitson’s project, The First Covenant: Understanding the Role of the Hebrew Bible in Victorian Art, re-examines how British artists between 1850-1901 reimagined the Hebrew Bible as a framework for interpreting modernity, empire, and global identity. Her research reveals how Victorian artists drew on Jewish and Islamic traditions to create new approaches to biblical art.
During her fellowship, Dr Hewitson will conduct object and archival research at the National Gallery of Australia, the Powerhouse Museum, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the State Library of Victoria. These collections hold important works and documents, including rare sculptures by the Victorian art worker George Tinworth, which will be central to an exhibition she is developing. Dr Hewitson will also collaborate with ANU’s Dr Keren Hammerschlag and other Australian scholars from Sydney and Melbourne.
Speaking about the award, Dr Hewitson said: 'I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with such outstanding collections and scholars in Australia. The fellowship will allow me to take my research in new directions and shed fresh light on how Victorians visualised the Bible.'
