Chandler Rathfon Post (1881–1959) was an American art historian and professor. He was a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(working from 1909 until 1950), focused as a historian of Spanish and Italian

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

and

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

. Post authored the book series, ''A History of Spanish Painting.''

Biography

Post was born on December 14, 1881, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, to parents Anne M. Rathfon and William R. Post. Post attended Harvard University, his classmates included

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and Hayward Keniston, and graduated in 1904, with a B.A. degree in Spanish literature. After graduation he studied

Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving wri ...

American School of Classical Studies The American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA; ) is one of 19 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece. It is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). CAORC is a private not-for-profit federati ...

in Athens, Greece. In 1909, Post received his Ph.D. from Harvard. His thesis was titled, ''Castillian Allegory of the Fifteenth Century, with Especial Reference to the Influence of Dante'' (1909), and his doctoral advisor was Jeremiah D. M. Ford. In 1914, he started teaching at Harvard, first as

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

of Greek Art and Fine Arts. By 1934, he was appointed as the William Dorr Boardman professor of Fine Arts. Students of Post included

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

and Walter William Spencer Cook. Post was a prolific author and researcher, he started his first visual survey series with, ''History of European and American Sculpture'' (1921), which was two volume and is one of the earliest American art surveys published. His survey series, ''A History of Spanish Painting'' (spanning publishing dates 1930–1953) was fourteen volumes in length and extensive in details. His last two books in the Spanish painting series were published posthumous by Harold Edwin Wethey. Post was a member of both the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He died November 2, 1959, in

Foxborough Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, it is about southwest of Boston. The population was 18,618 at the 2020 census. "Foxborough" is the official spelling of th ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Post, Chandler Rathfon 1881 births 1959 deaths American art historians Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Historians from Michigan American School of Classical Studies at Athens Members of the American Philosophical Society