Dr Emily Learmont (BA Hons, Postgraduate Diploma / MA, MSc, PhD)
Teaching Fellow
Contact details
- Email: Emily.Learmont@ed.ac.uk
Background
Dr Emily Learmont has recently completed a PhD on the nineteenth-century Edinburgh-born artist William Bell Scott (1811–90), which was an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Studentship at the University of Edinburgh and the National Galleries of Scotland. Her thesis focusses on what Scott termed his ‘decorative painting of a pictorial kind’, including his wall paintings, decorated furniture and stained-glass windows. Her book, William Bell Scott’s Screen: A Pre-Raphaelite Romance, was published by the National Galleries of Scotland in 2023, and she curated an exhibition, William Bell Scott: The King’s Quair Mural, for the galleries in 2024.
Emily previously studied Fine Art (Drawing and Painting) at the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, and exhibited her work at the Royal Academy and Royal Scottish Academy, before undertaking an MSc in the History of Art, Theory and Display at the University of Edinburgh. She is a Teaching Fellow in the University of Edinburgh Centre for Open Learning, and an arts educator for the National Galleries of Scotland and a range of other organisations.
Qualifications
BA Hons, Postgraduate Diploma / MA, MSc, PhD
Responsibilities & affiliations
Teaching Fellow, The University of Edinburgh Centre for Open Learning
Research summary
PhD Thesis: 'William Bell Scott's "Decorative Painting of a Pictorial Kind": History and National Identity'
This focuses on William Bell Scott (1811-90), an Edinburgh-born artist and member of the Pre-Raphaelite social circle, and the historical subjects that he employed in his wall paintings, decorated furniture and stained-glass panels, in relation to concepts of national identity in mid-nineteenth-century Britain.
MSc Dissertation: ‘Victorian Childhood and the Fantastic Imagination: Three Paintings by Sir Joseph Noël Paton from the 1860s’
This examines The Lullaby (1861-2) by Sir Joseph Noël Paton (1821-1901), a portrait of the artist’s wife and infant son, and two associated works, In Memoriam (1863-4) and The Fairy Raid – Carrying Off A Changeling, Midsummer Eve (1861-7), in the context of the idealisation of childhood innocence in Victorian visual and literary culture.
Current research interests
Nineteenth-century British visual and material culture, especially Scottish, Pre-Raphaelite, and medieval and Celtic revival.Past research interests
Visualisations of children and childhood; the history of the illustrated book.Knowledge exchange
Publications
‘Childhood Enshrined: The Lullaby by Joseph Noël Paton’, The British Art Journal, XX, 2, (2019).
'Una and the Lion by William Bell Scott: Poetry and Patriotism', The British Art Journal, XXIII, 1, (2022).
William Bell Scott’s Screen: A Pre-Raphaelite Romance (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 2023).
The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Sir Joseph Noël Paton and Una and the Lion by William Bell Scott in Scottish Art in 100 Works (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 2023).
Lectures and Conference Papers
‘Childhood Enshrined: The Lullaby by Sir Joseph Noël Paton’, ‘Speaking When They’re Spoken To? Re-integrating the Experiences and Perspectives of Children into Historical Research’, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, the University of Edinburgh, 6 June 2017.
'In Focus: The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Sir Joseph Noël Paton', Lunchtime Lecture, National Galleries of Scotland, 20 April 2018.
'Our Friends on the Twining Stair': Pre-Raphaelite Portraits in the King's Quair Mural by William Bell Scott', 'Communities, Relationships and Networks in the Long Nineteenth-Century', London Nineteenth-Century Studies Seminar Graduate Strand Conference, 30 April 2022.
Position Paper, Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours Study Day, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, 15 October 2022.
‘William Bell Scott and the King’s Quair Screen’, The Pre-Raphaelite Podcast, 30 September 2023.
'The Evil Genius': A Lost Pre-Raphaelite Portrait and Spiritualist Reference in the King’s Quair Screen by William Bell Scott’, Pre-Raphaelite Society Graduate Network, 4 December 2023.
‘Pre-Raphaelite Networks’, Chair, with Professor Serena Trowbridge: a day-long session for the Pre-Raphaelite Society Graduate Network and Professionals Network at the Association for Art History Annual Conference, University of York, 11 April 2025.
‘William Bell Scott’s Screen: A Pre-Raphaelite Romance’, Pre-Raphaelite Society Lecture Programme, 5 July 2025.
Awards and Scholarships
2020: Princeton University Library Research Grant.
2020/22: Postgraduate Research Expenses Grants, Edinburgh College of Art.
Organisations
Founder and Co-ordinator of the Pre-Raphaelite Society Graduate Network
Teaching
The University of Edinburgh: Teaching Fellow, Centre for Open Learning.
Tutor, School of History of Art, for the undergraduate courses, History of Art 2A: Reason, Romance, Revolution: Art from 1700 to 1900 and History of Art 2B: Art from Modernism and the Avant-Gardes to Postmodernism and Globalisation.
Nominated for 2023 and 2025 EUSA Teaching Awards.
National Galleries of Scotland: tours and art workshops for schools, community groups and adult learners; public tours; tours of Mertoun House; descriptive tours for visually impaired visitors; reminiscence sessions for groups of older visitors with mild-to-moderate dementia; children’s weekend and holiday activities.
The King's Gallery, The Palace of Holyroodhouse: tours and art workshops for community groups; descriptive tours for visually impaired visitors; amplified tours for visitors with hearing impairment; children’s weekend and holiday activities.
Art in Healthcare, Scotland: art workshops at healthcare venues including Rachel House (Children’s Hospice Association Scotland); The Royal Hospital for Sick Children; Leuchie House.