Millard Meiss
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Millard Lazare Meiss (March 25, 1904 - June 12, 1975) was an American art historian, one of whose specialties was
Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
. Meiss worked as an art history professor at Columbia University from 1934 to 1953."Meiss, Millard." ''The Columbia Encyclopedia''. Columbia University and Paul Lagasse. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. ''Credo Reference.'' Web. 15 Oct 2015. After teaching at Columbia, he became a professor at Harvard until 1958, when he joined the
Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
, in Princeton, N.J. Meiss has edited several leading art journals and has also written articles and books on medieval and Renaissance painting. Among his many important contributions are ''Italian style in Catalonia and a fourteenth century Catalan workshop'' (1941), ''Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death'' (1951) and ''French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry'' (3 vol., 1967–74). Other notable works include- ''Andrea Mantegna as Illuminator'' (1957), ''Giotto and Assisi'' (1960), ''The Painting of the Life of St. Francis in Assisi'' (with Leonetto Tintori, 1962), and ''The Great Age of Fresco'' (1970). Meiss also organized the first meeting in the United States of the Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art, and was elected the organization's president. He was elected to 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 ...
in 1954 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 ...
in 1963. In 1966, he assisted in
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with restoration efforts following the 1966 Flood of the Arno River, despite being in ill health. He gave the 1970 Aspects of Art Lecture. Upon his death he was survived by his widow, a daughter, and two grandchildren.


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1904 births 1975 deaths Historians of manuscript illumination American art historians Princeton University faculty Institute for Advanced Study faculty 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Corresponding fellows of the British Academy 20th-century American male writers Members of the American Philosophical Society {{US-art-historian-stub