Andrew Thomas Ladis (January 30, 1949 – December 2, 2007) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

-born American

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

particularly known for his studies on early

Italian Renaissance painting Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...

.Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, (2007) pp. 1-2 His 1983 book, ''Taddeo Gaddi: A Critical Review and Catalogue Raisonné'', was the first detailed study of

Taddeo Gaddi Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1290, in Florence – 1366, in Florence) was a medieval Italian painter and architect. He was the son of Gaddo di Zanobi, called Gaddo Gaddi. He was a member of Giotto's workshop from 1313 until the master's death in 1337. Acc ...

in the English language. At time of his death he was the Franklin Professor of Art History at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

's Lamar Dodd School of Art.

Biography

Andrew Ladis was born in

Athens, Greece Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. His parents, Thomas and Marina Ladis, emigrated to the United States when Ladis was a small boy and settled in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, where he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School. He received his BA in history (with Distinction) from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in 1970. After graduating, he briefly attended the University of Virginia Law School, but then transferred to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to study art history. He earned his MA in 1974 and PhD in 1978. His doctoral thesis was on the 14th century Italian painter

. Ladis would later expand this dissertation into his first book, ''Taddeo Gaddi: A Critical Review and Catalogue Raisonné'', the first detailed study of Gaddi in the English language. After teaching at

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University (APSU) () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee, United States. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, the

State University of New York at Potsdam The State University of New York at Potsdam (SUNY Potsdam or simply Potsdam) is a public college in Potsdam (village), New York, Potsdam, New York, United States. Founded in 1816, it is the northernmost member of the State University of New Yo ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, and

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio, United States. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in ...

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, he joined the faculty of the University of Georgia in 1987 and remained there for the rest of his career, becoming the Franklin Professor of Art History at the university's Lamar Dodd School of Art. While at the University of Georgia he took time off to spend a year at the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

, where he held the Hohenberg Chair of Excellence in Art History, and twice served as a Fellow and Visiting Professor at the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. Later in life, he also developed an interest in American art and wrote a series of essays on Gerald Brockhurst,

Lucy May Stanton Lucy May Stanton (May 22, 1875 – March 19, 1931) was an American painter. She made landscapes, still lifes, and portraits, but Stanton is best known for the portrait miniatures she painted. Her works are in the National Portrait Gallery (United ...

George Biddle George Biddle (January 24, 1885 – November 6, 1973) was an American painter, muralist and lithographer, best known for his social realism and combat art. A childhood friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he played a major role in establis ...

Raphael Soyer Raphael Zalman Soyer (December 25, 1899 – November 4, 1987) was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Soyer was referred to as an American scene painter. He is identified as a Social Realist because of his interest in ...

Paul Cadmus Paul Cadmus (December 17, 1904 – December 12, 1999) was an American artist widely known for his tempera, egg tempera paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings. He also produced many highly finished drawings of single nude male ...

, and Andrée Ruellan. Ladis died of cancer in

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

, on December 2, 2007, at the age of 58. He was survived by his partner of 37 years, William Underwood Eiland, director of the

Georgia Museum of Art Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Papers from Ladis's 2006

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

were published in ''The Historian's Eye: Essays on Italian Art in Honor of Andrew Ladis'' (Georgia Museum of Art, 2009).Georgia Museum of Art (2009). See also a special volume on art and literature in his honor in ''Explorations in Renaissance Culture'', vol. 32, no. 2 (Winter 2006).

Selected bibliography

Ladis was the general editor or co-editor of six volumes and series on art history, as well as authoring numerous scholarly articles and monographs and several books, including: *''Taddeo Gaddi: A Critical Review and Catalogue Raisonné'' (1983) *''The Brancacci Chapel, Florence'' (1993) *''Studies in Italian Art'' (2001) *''Victims and Villains in Vasari's Lives (Bettie Allison Rand Lectures in Art History)'' (2008) *''Giotto's "O": Narrative, Figuration, and Pictorial Ingenuity in the Arena Chapel'' (2008)

Notes and references

Sources

*''Explorations in Renaissance Culture'' vol. 32, no. 2 (Winter 2006). (This issue, which contains articles by Andrew Ladis, Marina Della Putta Johnston, Karen Goodchild, April Oettinger and Norman Land, is dedicated to Andrew Ladis. A brief memoir concerning Andrew Ladis by Bruce Cole also appears) *Georgia Museum of Art
Publications: Renaissance and Baroque Art
2009. Retrieved 2010-09-07. *University of Georgia
Andrew Ladis
Retrieved 2010-09-07. *Phillips, Julie
"Art world mourns loss"
''

Athens Banner-Herald The ''Athens Banner-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in Athens, Georgia, USA, and owned by Gannett. The paper has a Sunday special and publishes online under the name ''Online Athens''. History The newspaper traces its history to the ''Southern Ba ...

'', December 4, 2007. Retrieved 2010-09-07. * Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies
In Memoriam: Andrew Ladis
2007, Retrieved 2010-09-07.

External links

Andrew Ladis
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladis, Andrew 1949 births 2007 deaths People from Richmond County, Virginia American art historians University of Georgia faculty University of Virginia alumni Greek emigrants to the United States 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers Historians from Virginia American male non-fiction writers