Claudine van Hensbergen

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests 

I work on literary culture of the period 1642–1742, 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.

PhD Supervision

I welcome enquiries from students interested in developing research projects on any aspect of English literary culture 1600s-1700s, or on projects that explore gender or interdisciplinary connections between literature and the visual arts.

I am currently supervising the following students:

Malcolm Clements, 'The Politics and Principles of Taste and Display in the Homes of Sir Lawrence Dundas (1712-1781)', (first supervisor, started 2023).

Abby Hammond, 'Women in the Ledger Stones, 1640-1815: New Histories at Newcastle Cathedral' (second supervisor, started 2023).

Olivia Colborn-Clark, 'Consuming Modernist Cultures in Newcastle, 1910-1939' (second supervisor, started 2023).

Rachel Boyd, 'Historicizing Nerys Johnson' (second supervisor, started 2022).

Helen James, 'Beyond the Obvious: The Role of Quiet Photographs in Memoir Essays' (second supervisor, started 2022).

Completed projects:

Ella Nixon, 'The Regional Art Gallery and Strategies for Collecting, Displaying and Integrating Women’s Art in Britain, 1970-2021' (first supervisor, completed 2025).

Joanne Edwards, ‘Recontextualising “The Gay Delavals”: Women’s Lives and Family Narratives at the National Trust’s Seaton Delaval Hall' (second supervisor, completed 2025).

Daisy Winter, 'Inconstant Forms: The Emergence of Women's Memoir in Britain, 1663-1748' (first supervisor, completed 2023).

Montana Davies-Shuck, ‘Follower of Fashion: Mapping the Social and Political Genealogy of the Literary Fop, 1660-1790' (second supervisor, completed 2020).

Nicole Cochrane, ‘Appropriating Antiquity: Greco-Roman Sculpture and the British Public 1770-1900’ (second supervisor, Heritage Consortium studentship, completed 2019).

John Hemy, ‘Samuel Johnson and British Drama' (first supervisor, completed 2018). 

Danielle McDonnell, ‘Rape in Law and Literature, 1700-1765’ (second supervisor, completed 2017).

Teaching Interests 

At Northumbria, I teach on the following modules: 

• Research Methods: Traditional and Digital
• Writing Women: Aphra Behn in Focus
• English Dissertation
• Literature in the Museum: Working with our Cultural Heritage
• Literary Revolutions: Eighteenth-Century to Romanticism
• Geneses of English Literature
• Historical Fiction
• Public Humanities: Academic Research in the Wider World

• Impact Lead, UoA27 (English)

I joined Northumbria in 2012 having worked as a postdoctoral researcher on a History of Art project run between the University of York and Tate Britain. Prior to this I completed my PhD in English Literature at the University of Oxford and where I also taught undergraduates and worked on the Leverhulme-funded 'Digital Miscellanies Index' project.