Dr Nicola Jennings

Dr Nicola Jennings is Director of the Athena Art Foundation and an art historian with a special interest in Medieval and Early Modern Spain.

She has taught at London’s Courtauld Institute of Art for the past five years and was until recently Director of Colnaghi Foundation. Nicola started her professional life as a producer and director of broadcast documentaries.

MuseumNext Digital Exhibitions Summit
Monday, 5th December 2022

Living Portraits: Bringing Portraiture to Life

Living Portraits brings historic artworks to life using technology and theatricality while retaining the historic authenticity. We will talk about the first portrait in the series, Jem Belcher, a butcher turned boxer from the 19th century, who we brought to life to better understand whether hearing his experience directly can change the perceptions of unengaged audiences to historic artworks. This talk, delivered by a collaborative team from Athena Arts Foundation, Megaverse and the National Portrait Gallery, will look at the motivations behind the project, the technology used, the audience impact from the project and what we hope to do next.

Find the full schedule here