Laura Marie Feigen

Laura Marie Feigen is a PhD candidate and Associate Lecturer at The Courtauld Institute of Art. Her research focuses on Hebrew manuscripts, Jewish displacement in medieval Europe (1290–1550), and the material and cultural histories of books. She is supervised by Professor Alixe Bovey and Dr. Tom Nickson, and funded by the Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South-East England (CHASE). Feigen holds an MA in Art History (Distinction) from The Courtauld and dual BA degrees from Stanford University in Art History and Italian Language/Literature (both First Class Honours).

Her work examines how Hebrew manuscripts migrated across Europe, analyzing colophons, ownership inscriptions, and material changes to trace displacement narratives of Jewish communities. She has been a Research Fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2023) and organized interdisciplinary conferences such as Tracing Jewish Histories: The Long Lives of Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts (2025). Feigen has received grants from the Medieval Academy of America, the British Archaeological Association, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

Key research interests include codicology, Jewish-Christian interactions in medieval Europe, manuscript illumination, and the afterlives of manuscripts. Her 2022 research trip to the J. Paul Getty Museum (funded by the British Archaeological Association) enabled analysis of the Rothschild Pentateuch, revealing insights into scribal practices and manuscript provenance.

Teaching roles include leading Art, Travel, and Imagination in the Middle Ages (Spring 2026) and serving as a Teaching Assistant for exhibition curation courses. Feigen has co-organized over a dozen academic sessions at venues like the International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo) and the International Medieval Congress (Leeds).