Harriet Sonne De Torrens

Visual Resource Librarian and Administrator, Visual Resource Library
(Art History, Cinema, Visual Studies)
Instructor: VST410Y Internship in the Arts and Visual Studies

Contact:
Email preferred: harriet.sonne@utoronto.ca
905-569-4610
CCT 3021, UTM

EDUCATION 

2006 (L.M.S.) Licentiate in Mediaeval Studies. Post-Doctoral Thesis. Awarded "Magna Cum Laude" from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies,  University of Toronto. Thesis: “The Female Body, Sexuality and Baptism in Medieval Iberia.” 

2003 Ph.D. Institute of Art History, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.  Dissertation: "De fontibus salvatoris: A Liturgical and Ecclesiological Reading of the Representation of the Childhood of Christ on the Medieval Fonts from Scandinavia." Dissertation advisers: Dr. Axel Bolvig, Dr. Søren Kaspersen at the University of Copenhagen and Dr. Jill Caskey at the University of Toronto. 

2001 MISt. University of Toronto (Dual Program: Archival Studies and Public Service with a Museum Program elective). Completed my MISt while completing a doctorate.

1995 M.A. University of Toronto (Centre for Medieval Studies and the Department of Art History).

1991 B.A. Honours, Graduated with High Distinction, University of Toronto (Art History). Worked full-time while completing my undergraduate degree.

LANGUAGES

Bilingual Danish and English. Working knowledge of Swedish, Norwegian and Latin. Reading knowledge of German, Spanish, French and some Italian.

AWARDS

2023  Awarded Decanal Research Award by Department of Visual Studies, University of Toronto Mississauga.

2021 Awarded the CAUT Academic Librarians’ and Archivists’ Distinguished Service Award

2014-2015 Awarded the Academic Librarian Award, Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). October 24, 2015. 

2005-2006 Awarded Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto.

2004 Ph.D. Dissertation awarded the Leonard F. Boyle Dissertation Prize by the Canadian Society of Medievalists. 

2002 Appointed Doctoral Stipendium, Institute of Art History, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

DIGITAL HUMANITIES RESEARCH PROJECT

Founder and Co-director, Baptisteria Sacra: An Iconographic Index of Baptismal Fonts                       An in-progress, iconographical database of baptismal fonts from the early Christian period to the seventeenth century. Currently has over 25,000+ font records and 120,000+ digitized images of baptismal fonts; data on shape, medium, date, style, period, inscriptions (1,700+), bibliographical references (3,000+), iconographic motifs (13,000+ different motifs), regions and country. 

BOOKS

2024 (forthcoming, August). Crusader Rhetoric and the Infancy Cycles on Medieval Baptismal Fonts in the Baltic Region. Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-59938-0. eISBN 978-2-503-59939-7. 

2024 (forthcoming, summer). Academic Librarianship in Canada: Post-COVID Perspectives in a Neoliberal Era, eds. Jessica Shiers, Harriet M. Sonne de Torrens, Joanna Szurmak and Meaghan Valant.  California: Litwin Press & Library Juice, 2024.

2013.  The Visual Culture of Baptism in the Middle Ages Essays on Medieval Fonts, Settings and Beliefs, eds. Harriet Sonne de Torrens and Miguel A. Torrens. (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited and Routledge: Taylor & France Group). Contributors:  Amy R. Bloch, Ph.D., Professor, University at Albany, SUNY; Annebelle Martin, Ph.D., Paris, France ; Frances Altvater, Ph.D., Professor, Hillyer College, University of Hartford, USA.; Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby, Ph.D., Ben-Gurion University, Israel; Silvia Schlegel, Ph.D., Basel Museum, Switzerland; Jenni Kuuliala, Ph.D., University of Tampere, Finland; Dr Madeleine Gray, senior lecturer and former head of History at the University of Wales, Newport, Wales, UK.; Harriet Sonne de Torrens, University of Toronto.

RECENT ARTICLES, CHAPTERS AND BOOK REVIEWS

2024. (forthcoming) Co-authored Chapter with Guenther Lomas, Jessica Shiers, Harriet M. Sonne de Torrens, Joanna Szurmak and Meaghan Valant. “Perpetuating a Gendered Profession: An Empirical Deconstruction of the Job Openings for Academic Librarians at the University of Toronto from 1985 to 2021” in Academic Librarianship in Canada: Post-COVID Perspectives in a Neoliberal Era (California: Litwin Press & Library Juice, 2024).

2024. In-press. Chapter. “The Lyngsjö and Nora Baptismal Fonts in Medieval Denmark and Gotland: Thomas Becket, the Cistercians and the Baltic Crusades.” In Images of Thomas Becket in the Middle Ages and Beyond: The Uses and Reception of a Celebrity Saint, eds Dr. Kay B. Slocum and Dr. Alyce A. Jordan (Boydell & Brewer Ltd, UK: 2024)

2023 ‘Remapping the Political Terrain of Baltic Medieval Studies’ (book review). Kersti Markus, Visual Culture and Politics in the Baltic Sea Region, 1100−1250. East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450. Volume 63 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2020) for Kunstiteaduslikke Uurimusi / Studies on Art and Architecture (journal for Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators). This book review emerged from conversation with the author, Prof. Kersti Markus, Tallinn University and my own work in the Baltic region. 

2022. “The Mysterious Paimpol Triptych from the Beauport Abbey: A Work by a Follower of the Hans Memling Workshop?” Eds Dr. Claude Evans, Dr. Paul Evans,  Special Issue: Cistercians and Regular Canons in Medieval Western Europe. Nottingham Medieval Studies. 65 (2021), pp. 433-468. 

2020. “A Legacy of Resistance: The Case of the Freckenhorst Baptismal Font,” ICO: Iconographisk Post – Nordic Review of Iconography no. 3-4.

2020. “The Miracle of the Harvest. The Cistercians, French Connections and the Hegwald Workshop on Gotland” ICO: Iconographisk Post – Nordic Review of Iconography no. 1-2 (2020): 25-83.

2018 -2019. “Representations of Marriage: Iconographical Origins and Trends” in the book Cultural History of Marriage (medieval  period covering from 500 to 1500 A.D.) ed. Dr. Frederik Pedersen (University of Aberdeen), pp. 147-165 (Bloomsbury).

2018  “Academic Freedom and Professional Autonomy: Librarians’ Research and Scholarship in Canadian University Libraries” College & Research Libraries, Vol. 79:7, pp. 931-947.

2015   “Une proclamation de foi: les retables commandés au XVII siècle par le prieur Vincent Royer pour l’abbaye prémontrée de Beauport” in ed. Cédric Jeanneau Un Scriptorium et son époque : les chanoines de Beauport et la société bretonne au Moyen Âge. Brest : Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 2015,  pp. 269-318.

2015   Co-authored with Mary Kandiuk “Librarians in a Litigious Age and the Attack on Academic Freedom” in Current Issues in Libraries, Information Science and Related Fields. Published June 15, 2015, pp. 3-45. 

2014   “Academic Librarianship: The Quest for Rights and Recognition at the University of Toronto” in eds. Mary Kandiuk and Jennifer Dekker, In Solidarity : Academic Librarian Labour Activism and Union Participation in Canada Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press, pp. 81-106, 314-324.

2013   “Reconsidering the Date of the Baptismal Font in San Isidoro, León, Spain” in eds. Harriet Sonne de Torrens and Miguel A. Torrens, The Visual Culture of Baptism in the Middle Ages Essays on Medieval Fonts, Settings and Beliefs Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, pp. 3-76.

2013 Co-authored with Miguel A. Torrens, “Introduction” in The The Visual Culture of Baptism in the Middle Ages Essays on Medieval Fonts, Settings and Beliefs (Farnham, England: Ashgate Press, 2013), pp. 1-10.

2013  Co-authored with members of the Steering Committee at CAPAL “CAPAL: The Formation of a Professional Organization for Canadian Academic Librarians” Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research vol. 8:2, pp. 1-3., see URL 

2011   Co-authored with Mary Kandiuk, Diane Granfield, “Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or an Opportunity”  Partnership:  the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, vol. 6, no. 2, pp.1-6.

2010 "Aakirkeby Baptismal Font" for the online Medieval Dictionary of Art & Architecture published by Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press. Invited by the editor, Dr. C. Hourihane to write on this topic.

2010 "Simris Church, Skåne" for the online Medieval Dictionary of Art & Architecture published by Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press. Invited by the editor, Dr. C. Hourihane to write on this topic.

2010 "Bjäresjö Baptismal Font" for the online Medieval Dictionary of Art & Architecture published by Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press. Invited by the editor, Dr. C. Hourihane to write on this topic.

2010 "Jutland" for the online Medieval Dictionary of Art & Architecture published by Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press. Invited by the editor, Dr. C. Hourihane to write on this topic.

2010 "Viklau Madonna" for the online Medieval Dictionary of Art & Architecture published by Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press. Invited by the editor, Dr. C. Hourihane to write on this topic.

2009 “Illicit Sex and Alcahuetas in the Medieval Kingdom of Castile:The Pictorial Program on the Rebanal de Las Llantas Baptismal Font” La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures and Cultures, vol. 38:1 (Fall, 2009): 97-120.

2009 “Fovea Peccati et Utero Ecclesiae: The Symbiotic Nature of Female Sexuality on Medieval Baptismal Fonts” in From the Margins II: Women of the New Testament and Their Afterlives eds. Christine Joynes and Christopher Rowland (Sheffield Phoenix  Press, 2009), pp. 334-361. 

2008 “Baptism, Sex and Alcahuetas in Medieval Iberia.” In Weapons of Mass Instruction: Secular and Religious Institutions Teaching the World, edited by Joseph Goering, Francesco Guardiani, and Giulio Silano, 21-40. Toronto: LEGAS, 2008.

2006 "The Stadil Altar Frontal: A Johannine Interpretation of the Nativity of Christ" in Decorating the Lord’s Table: On the Dynamics between Image and Altar in the Early and High Middle Ages eds. Søren Kaspersen and Erik Thunø (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanums Press, 2006). See website: www.mtp.hum.ku.dk for more information on the text.

2003 “The Three-Headed Trinity and Divine Wisdom in the Cloister Program at Alquézar (Spain)” published in Spanish as “Sabiduría Divina y Teología Trinitaria: El programa del claustro del monasterio de Alquézar” in a collection of essays edited by Dr. Rocío Sánchez-Ameijeiras and Dr. José Luis Senra Gabriel y Galán, El Tímpano Romaníco: imágenes, estructura y audiencias. (Santiago de Compostela, Xunta de Galicia,  2003).

2003 "De fontibus salvatoris: A Survey of Twelfth and Thirteen Century Baptismal Fonts Ornamented with Events from the Childhood of Christ" article for Objects, Images and the Word: Art in the Service of the Liturgy, ed. Colum Hourihane (Princeton, N.J.: Index of Christian Art, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University Press).

2002 “Sacrae Rei Signum: The Appropriation of Nuptial Iconography for Representing the Spiritual Marriage of Mary and Joseph in Medieval Scandinavia and Spain” Aurora: The Journal of the History of Art, November III.

1995 "Discovery of a Sighraf Graveslab in the Grotlingbo Church on Gotland,"Konsthistorisk tidskrift LXIV, 1995, No.4. 197-203. (Stockholm, Sweden)