Frederick Hartt (1914–1991) was an

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

scholar, author and professor of

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

. His books include ''History of Italian Renaissance Art'', '' Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture ''(two volumes), ''Michelangelo (Masters of Art Series)'', ''The Sistine Chapel'' and ''The Renaissance in Italy and Spain (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)''. He was also involved with cataloging and repatriating art work looted and stolen by the Third Reich during World War II.

Biography

Hartt was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts on 22 May 1914, the son of Rollin Lynde Hartt and Jessie Clark Knight (Hartt). He graduated from Columbia College in 1935 and received his PhD from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

's Institute of Fine Arts in 1950; the subject of his dissertation was ''

Giulio Romano Giulio Romano (, ; – 1 November 1546), is the acquired name of Giulio Pippi, who was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-cent ...

and the

Palazzo del Te or is a palace in the suburbs of Mantua, Italy. It is a fine example of the mannerist style of architecture, and the acknowledged masterpiece of Giulio Romano. Although formed in Italian, the usual name in English of Palazzo del Te is not that ...

''. From 1942 to 1946, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Hartt was an officer in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program of the US Army and received a Bronze Star. He was also made an honorary citizen of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, and was decorated with the Knight's Cross by the Italian government. He was on the faculty of the art history department at Washington University in St. Louis from 1949 to 1960, and from 1960 to 1967 he taught at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

. In 1967 he moved to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

, where he was chairman of the art department from 1967 to 1976. In 1969, Hartt published a textbook survey of Renaissance art, ''History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture'', which has been revised and reprinted numerous times. He became a Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia in 1984. Harrt died in Washington, D.C. on 31 October 1991.

Michelangelo controversy

In 1986 Hartt authenticated a plaster statue of a headless torso as an original by Michelangelo. "In March 1987, he presented his findings at the New York Academy of Sciences, where several other scholars confirmed his judgment." An English newspaper, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

,'' later published an article implying that Hartt had acted dishonestly. He sued the paper for libel. While Hartt won the case, the judge reduced the sum awarded because Hartt had accepted a "commission on the sale of the statue after his writings about it were published."

Bibliography (partial list)

* Hartt, Frederick (1949). ''Florentine Art Under Fire''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. * Hartt, Frederick (1953). ''Sandro Botticelli''. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. * Hartt, Frederick (1964). ''Love in Baroque Art''. J.J. Augustin. * Hartt, Frederick (1968). ''Michelangelo: The Complete Sculpture''. . * Hartt, Frederick (1969). ''History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture''. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. .

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartt Frederick 1914 births 1991 deaths Writers from Boston American art historians University of Virginia faculty Monuments men 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni Historians from Massachusetts Columbia College (New York) alumni 20th-century American male writers