John W. Williams (February 25, 1928 – June 6, 2015) was an 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 ...

was an expert in Spanish

medieval art The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, with over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional ar ...

, especially its

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

s. He was Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History of Art and Architecture end eventually Professor Emeritus, Medieval Art and Architecture, both at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. Williams's best known work is ''The Illustrated Beatus'', a five-volume work. It was turned into the

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

''Beatus: The Spanish Apocalypse''.

References

1928 births 2015 deaths American art historians University of Michigan alumni University of Pittsburgh faculty {{US-art-historian-stub