Specialization:
Areas of Concentration: Early Modern Netherlandish Art; Decorative Arts; Jewelry; Object–Viewer Relations; Queer Studies; Sensoriality
Faculty Advisor: Mark A. Meadow
M.A. Thesis: "‘Wat men veerst haelt, dat smaeket soetst’: De pomander en de wisselwerking met buiten-Europese culturen" (History, Art History and Classics, Radboud University, completed 2024)
Bio:
Jasper Martens is a PhD student in the Department of History of Art & Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research examines how objects stimulate contemplation through sensorial engagement, resulting in processes of self-exploration and self-fashioning. Trained initially in the art market, Jasper grounds his work in object-based analysis. His research begins with object handling and close looking, which generate questions he addresses through transhistorical and transnational perspectives, offering a more nuanced understanding of both the objects and the ideas they evoke.
His dissertation focuses on so-called miniature portraits with mica overlays produced in early modern Northern Europe. He examines these objects through the lens of object–viewer relationships, as well as social, religious, and gender transformations. He is currently compiling an inventory of such objects.
Jasper’s dissertation research is supported by a DARTS grant from the Decorative Arts Trust (2025), an LGBTQ+ History Association Research Grant (2026), and a fellowship at Clark Library (2027).