Lea Viehweger

Lea Viehweger is a Doctoral Fellow in the interdisciplinary program 4A Laboratory: Art Histories, Archaeologies, Anthropologies, Aesthetics (October 2023–August 2025) at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max Planck Institute. She is also a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, supervised by Professor Alexander Marr.

Her research intersects art history, history of science, and literature studies, focusing on the iconology of plants in early modern visual culture. Specifically, she examines gendered attitudes toward plants through proverb-like names (Vergissmeinicht, Jelängerjelieber, Maßliebchen) in portraiture and material culture from German-speaking regions (1470–1570). The project analyzes connections between medicinal knowledge, social norms, and artistic representations.

Lea previously worked as a research assistant at the National Gallery, London, contributing to the Catalogue of German Paintings Before 1800 (forthcoming 2024). She holds an M.A. in Art History, Curatorship, and Renaissance Culture (with Distinction) from the Warburg Institute, London, and a B.A. in History of Art (with Distinction) from the Albert-Ludwig-University, Freiburg.