Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern Exchanges London). He is an authority on the evolution of the Grand Tour, Anglo-Italian cultural relations, the history of collecting,

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

and the legacy of ancient Egypt. He also publishes on aspects of 20th-century British art. In 2003, he was made a Commendatore of the

Italian Republic Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He is the biographer of Gerald Basil Edwards, author of ''

The Book of Ebenezer Le Page ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'' is a novel by Guernsey born writer Gerald Basil Edwards first published in the United Kingdom by Hamish Hamilton in 1981, and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf in the same year. It has since been published ...

'' which he succeeded in publishing following the author's death in 1976. This has since been recognised as a twentieth-century classic.

Life

Education

Chaney was educated at Leighton Park School, Reading, Ealing School of Art and subsequently gained a first class degree in History of Art at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

before completing an MPhil and PhD at the

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cros ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He also has a Laurea from the University of Pisa. He married biographer Lisa Jacka in Paris, 1973, and has two daughters, Jessica Chaney, former art director of ''Apollo'' magazine, and singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney. The marriage was dissolved in 2002.

Work

From 1978 to 1985 Chaney lived 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 ...

where he was a 'Ricercatore' at the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral research-intensive university and an intergovernmental organisation with juridical personality, established by its founding member states to contribu ...

, adjunct assistant professor at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

's Villa Le Balze, an Associate of

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 ...

's Villa I Tatti and taught at the University of Pisa. From 1985 to 1990 he was the Shuffrey Research Fellow in Architectural History at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

before working for

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as historian to the London region and lecturing in the History of Art at

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

. In 1997 was appointed Professor Fine and Decorative Arts at the Southampton Institute, now Southampton Solent University, where he established the History of Collecting Research Centre. In 2014 he was appointed Visiting Professor of Art History at the New College of the Humanities and January–March 2015 Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the

. He was co-founder and editor of Journal of Anglo-Italian Studies, and has served on the Executive Committee of the British-Italian Society, the

International Association of Art Critics The International Association of Art Critics (French: ''Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art'', AICA) was founded in 1950 to revitalize critical discourse, which suffered under Fascism during World War II. Affiliated with UNESCO AICA wa ...

(AICA) and the Catholic Record Society. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of: * The Journal of Wyndham Lewis Studiesbr>
*

The British Art Journal ''The British Art Journal is now published online only as The British Art Journal: Online.'' ''The'' British Art ''Journal'' was a triannual journal/magazine publishing research on British art from all periods. Its last print volume, XXIV, was ...

* The Court Historian In 2016 he was appointed Governor of University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

Bibliography

Books

* ''Oxford, China and Italy: Writings in Honour of Sir Harold Acton'' (ed. with Neil Ritchie, Thames and Hudson, 1984) * ''The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion: Richard Lassels and 'The Voyage of Italy' in the Seventeenth Century'' (C.I.R.V.I., Slatkine, 1985) * ''A Traveller's Companion to Florence'' (intro Harold Acton, Constable, 1986; 2nd ed. Constable and Robinson, 2002) * ''England and the Continental Renaissance'' (ed with Peter Mack: Boydell Press, 1990) * ''English Architecture: Public and Private'' (ed with John Bold: Hambledon Press, 1993) * ''The Evolution of the Grand Tour: Anglo-Italian Cultural Relations since the Renaissance'' (1998; 2nd, paperback edition, Routledge, 2000) * ''The Stuart Portrait: Status and Legacy'' (with Godfrey Worsdale; Paul Holberton Publishing, 2001). * ''The Evolution of English Collecting: Receptions of Italian Art during the Tudor and Stuart Periods'' (Yale University Press, 2003) * ''Richard Eurich 1903–1992: A Visionary Artist'' (with Christine Clearkin, Paul Holberton, 2003) * Introduction, updated bibliography and corrections to new edition of John Hale's ''England and the Italian Renaissance'' (Blackwell, Oxford 2005) * ''Inigo Jones's 'Roman Sketchbook, 2 vols. (Roxburghe Club, 2006) * ''William Rose: Tradition and an Individual Talent'' (Bath, 2009) * ''The Jacobean Grand Tour: Early Stuart Travellers in Europe'' (with Timothy Wilks; I.B. Tauris, 2014). * ''Genius Friend: G.B. Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'' (Blue Ormer, 2015) * ''Florence: A Traveller's Reader'' (Robinson, 2018)

Digital publications (selection)

Edward Chaney
– academia.edu profile and digital publications * ''The Grand Tour''; consultant editors Jeremy Black, Edward Chaney and Rosemary Sweet; Adam Matthew Digital, 2009.
Obelisk: A History
– ''

History Today ''History Today'' is a history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and publishes articles of tradit ...

'' 60:1, 1 January 2010
R.B. Kitaj (1932–2007): Warburgian Artist
''emaj: online journal of art'', 30 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
G.B. Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer Le Page (podcast)
– interview with Edward Chaney about Gerald Edwards, ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'', and his new biography, ''Genius Friend'' – Guille-Allès Library podcast
'The Guernsey Gattopardo'
, ''The Island Review'', 18 November 2015.
'"Thy pyramids buylt up with newer might": Shakespeare and the Cultural Memory of Ancient Egypt'
''Aegyptiaca; Journal of the History of Reception of Ancient Egypt'', No. 5 (2020), pp. 263–344.

Media

* Broadcast appearances on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programmes: Start the Week, Woman's Hour, Science Now and In Our Time ('The Grand Tour' – 30 May 2002), * He has acted as consultant for programmes on the Grand Tour by Brian Sewell and Kevin McCloud (

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

) and 'Great British Art Collectors – Lady Helen Rosslyn' on BBC4 (2012–13). * He has contributed articles to:

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

The Burlington Magazine ''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation s ...

, Country Life,

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

, The English Historical Review,

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 publis ...

, Literary Review, The Milton Quarterly, Modern Painters,

The Salisbury Review ''The Salisbury Review'' is a quarterly United Kingdom, British "magazine of Conservatism, conservative thought". It was founded in 1982 by the Salisbury Group, who sought to articulate and further traditional intellectual conservative ideas. The ...

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

, The Victorian.

Awards

* Leverhulme European Studentship. 1978-9. * Huntington Library Research Fellowship (British Academy travel funded). 1995. * Mellon

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is a British interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture established in Rome. Historical and archaeological study are at the core of its activities. History The British Sc ...

Award. 2006. * Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship: 2010–2012. 'Polytheism and its Discontents: Cultural Memories of Egypt in England.'. *

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

: travel expenses to International Travel and Illustration conference (keynote speaker), Bangalore, India, November 2014. * Fernand Braudel Senior Research Fellowship;

, Florence; January–March 2015.European University Institute web site
. Retrieved 1 October 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaney, Edward British art historians Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Academics of Southampton Solent University Academics of Oxford Brookes University Living people 1951 births Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Alumni of the University of Reading People educated at Leighton Park School Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford Academic staff of the European University Institute British biographers British writers British non-fiction writers British Egyptologists Fernand Braudel Fellows