The Sir Denis Mahon Essay Prize 2012 at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
featuring
EDWARD PAYNE, Winner
with his essay presented as a Lecture:
Hung, drawn and tortured: violence in drawings by Guercino and Ribera.

The Sir Denis Mahon Essay Prize 2012 was held at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and was hosted by Professor Deborah Swallow, Märit Rausing Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Dr. Edward Payne was the first recipient of the Sir Denis Mahon Essay Prize in 2012 with his essay entitled “Hung, drawn and tortured: violence in drawings by Guercino and Ribera”, which was published in the exhibition catalogue, Lucretia: Guercino and Handel: a dialogue between art and music, on the occasion of the exhibition, Guercino and Handel, at the Foundling Museum, London between 17 September 2013 – 26 January 2014. In 2020, he became the Assistant Professor in Art History before 1750 at Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. A graduate of the University of London Institute in Paris in 2004, Dr. Payne studied French before specializing in 17^th Century Spanish and Neopolitan art during his MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2005. In 2012, he earned a PhD in Art History from the Courtauld, where he wrote a thesis entitled, Violence and Corporeality in the Art of Jusepe de Ribera. This research underpinned the 2018-19 exhibition, Ribera: Art of Violence, which he co-curated with Xavier Bray at Dulwich Picture Gallery, as well as the accompanying catalogue. Previously an Honorary Fellow at Durham University, in October 2018, he became the Assistant Professor (Research), Pemberton Fellowship for the Study of Spanish Art at the Zurbarán Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art ; School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University, having served as the Head Curator of Spanish Art at The Auckland Project between 2016-18.