Matthijs Jonker

Dr. Matthijs Jonker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University's Faculty of Humanities. His research focuses on transcultural and trans-Atlantic knowledge production during the early modern period (16th-18th centuries), particularly the role of visual materials in academic and scientific contexts across Mexico, Italy, and Spain.

• Education: PhD in Art History from University of Amsterdam

Research Interests
Dr. Jonker investigates:

• Visual epistemology in early modern academies and scientific societies
• Transatlantic cultural exchange through artistic and scholarly networks
• Colonial knowledge production in New Spain (Mexico)
• Media revolutions and visualization practices in Renaissance-to-Enlightenment transitions
• Institutional history of European art academies
• Scientific illustration and its epistemic functions

Scientific Contributions
He has published a monograph on the institutionalization of art through The Academization of Art (2022), and is co-editing a volume on visual culture in scientific societies with Dr. Katherine Reinhart.

Academic Affiliations
Currently serves as:

• Visiting scholar in the Max Planck Research Group 'Visualizing Science in Media Revolutions' (Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome)
• Executive committee member of the international research network 'Scientiae: Disciplines of Knowing in the Early Modern World'

Teaching
Instructor for courses on early modern art history, including:

• Field trip and seminar: Art and Architecture up to 1850
• Interdisciplinary research methods in art history
• Visual culture of the early modern period