The British Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings is home to the national collection of works on paper, and one of the most important collections of its kind in the world. Approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints chart the development of the graphic arts in the western tradition from the 1400s to the present, with comprehensive holdings of the principal artists, as well extensive collections of historical, satirical, portrait prints, book illustrations, and an important collection of Georgian printed ephemera and trade cards.

We are seeking to appoint the inaugural Monument Trust Visiting Fellow, a full-time researcher, and scholar, expected to spend at least three days a week for a period from 6 to a maximum of 12 months in the Department of Prints and Drawings. The aim of the Fellowship is to initiate or substantially develop original research principally focussed on the British Museum’s graphic collection, but not excluding the opportunity to look at related material in other areas of the collection. Applications from scholars in fields not usually associated with the study of the graphic arts (such as history; geography; modern and classical languages; literature; and social and political sciences) are also welcomed as the Fellowship is intended to encourage new approaches and perspectives on prints and drawings. The Fellow will work in the busy, open-plan Prints and Drawings Study Room, have access to all parts of the collection and to the library, and will be expected to participate in the activities of the Department and contribute to the department and wider Museum throughout the Fellowship period. At the conclusion of their Fellowship they will present their collection-based research at a seminar for curators, cataloguers, and invited scholars.