Statement of Purpose

My interest in the history of art is not only of an academic nature, but also artistic in character.

Three years ago, I began my own writing career, and since then I have written fourteen books

across many different genres. The unifying factor behind all these works is that they all draw

upon a shared theme: philosophy, aesthetics, and the idea of art as a lens through which we see

the world.

I understand perfectly well that I am applying for an academic degree, but I believe that

my background as an artist will allow me to have a richer perspective when it comes to the

interpretation of culture.

Though I majored in English, my interests have always been broader than literature. At

my home institution, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Iendeavoured to follow an

interdisciplinary path and frequently signed up for modules focused on aesthetics, history,

andcultural studies. I am, furthermore, a classical pianist and,as such, am in an ideal position to

comment upon the relationship between the arts.

I am applying to Oxford for several reasons. The international reputation of the university

is indisputable; nevertheless, that could be said about its performance in most subjects. I believe

that Oxford would be ideal specifically for a master’s degree in the history of art because, apart Commented [UdW1]: I don’t like it

from academic excellence, your institution has invaluable material resources at its disposal.

In 2017, I took it upon myself to travel around the UK with the primary purpose of

searching for Pre-Raphaelite paintings in different museums. That is how I first came into

contact with the Ashmolean and its extensive nineteenth-century collection. My research

proposal concerns itself with the visual culture of that century and its representations of Commented [UdW2]: hmm

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Antiquity; therefore, a museum with a double emphasis on archaeology and art such as the

Ashmolean would prove indispensable for my work.

As for a preliminary module choice, I am particularly interested in ‘Image and Thought’,

as philosophy has always been one of my passions, particularly phenomenology and the ideas of

Plato. The opportunity to discuss how these thinkers have had an impact on artistic production is

one I shall treasure immensely. This module would build upon my previous knowledge, as the

question of influence is one that I have analysed throughout the entire course of my degree:

during my first semester at university I wrote about the impact of the Platonic doctrine of the tri-

partite soul on Virgil’s Aeneid and my dissertation analysed the influence of Early Modern Commented [UdW3]: tal vez “in my dissertation”. Podrías
también dividirlo en dos oraciones.

philosophical and theological schools of thought on Shakespearean tragedy. For the latter, my

critical method was cultural materialism. My thesis was therefore not only concerned with

literary and aesthetic effects, but with the analysis of culture and history. It is for this reason that Commented [UdW4]: No me agrada. Suena muy rebuscado.

I believe I can adapt myself with ease to the methodology used at the History of Art Department.

My second choice for the option paper is ‘Women, Art and Culture in Early Modern

Europe’, as I realise that there is a tendency in the study of the history of art to leave out fifty

percent of the world’s population.

To speak about my academic performance, not taking into consideration those who

pursued their degree online, I was the student with the highest GPA (9.86/10) in the 2014

undergraduate English class at UNAM in Mexico. As I was part of the academic exchange Commented [UdW5]: Me gusta más since.

programme at University College London, I am also acquainted with the British system of higher

education, where I excelled as I did at my home institution, being the top student in two of my

four classes, and amongst the top five in the remaining two. Commented [UdW6]: “the other half”(?)

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 Furthermore, to prepare myself for this degree, I am currently studying resources on my

own, such as The Story of Art by E. H.Gombrich and several MOOCs such as ‘Roman Art and

Archaeology with David Soren’ and ‘Ways of Seeing with John Berger’. These courses have

introduced me to a number of issues which I wish to analyse in detail at a postgraduate level,

such as the intention of the artist and its value to the critic, the chosen method of representation,

and the problems that are born from new discoveries in art.

Moreover, I took great advantage of my Time in London by frequenting conferences and

talks and going on guided tours of the National Gallery and the Tate Britain. While these were

usually very informative, I often found fault with the fact that they tended to be overly

biographical in nature, in that they concentrated more on the life of the artist than on the work of

art in itself. What I expect from this degree is instead to learn a more systematic methodology for Commented [UdW7]: corta el ritmo de la oración.

the analysis of visual culture.

Finally, my plans beyond this degree are to continue studying and achieve a PhD. After

this, I hope to work in cultural institutions, curating and designing exhibitions of nineteenth-

century pieces presented through a truly synesthetic experience that combines period-appropriate

music with visual culture.

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 Project

On This Day in Antiquity: Representations of Greco-Roman culture

I intend to analyse the transformation of the depiction of Classical Antiquity from the

seventeenthto the nineteenth century. My focus will be on Poussin and Alma-Tadema, with a few

chosen artists in between. My interest lies in the progression from mythological scenes with a

moral or allegorical meaning (Poussin) to the less ‘academic’ depiction of everyday life in

Ancient Greece and Rome (Alma-Tadema, Godward).

The question I wish to respond is ‘How and why did such a transition take place?’ I relate

this development to a later change in world systems theory, from what François Simiand called

histoire événementielle, centred around kings and battles, to a concern with how regular people

lived in any given time period.

The academic merit of this project resides in the fact that classical subjects are a constant

in the history of art, and, thus, are a great indicator of the different challenges its evolution has

engendered. Commented [UdW8]: sería bueno agregar por qué tu estudio

tiene valor. No se ha abordado desde esa perspectiva, etc… Pero si
no te alcanzan las palabras entonces así está bien.

Alsdorf, Bridget. ‘Pleasure’s Poise: Classicism and Baroque Allegory in Poussin’s Dance to the

Music of Time.’The Seventeenth Century 23 (2008): 198-224.

Giuliana Pieri. “D'Annunzio and Alma-Tadema: Between Pre-Raphaelitism and Aestheticism.”

The Modern Language Review, vol. 96, no. 2, 2001, pp. 361–369. JSTOR.