Arthur Kingsley Porter: Difference between revisions

'''Arthur Kingsley Porter''' (1883–1933) was an American archaeologist, art historian, and medievalist. He was chair of [[Harvard University]]’s art history department, and was the first American scholar of [[Romanesque architecture]] to achieve international recognition.<ref>{{cite book |title=Romanesque Architecture and its Sculptural Decoration in Christian Spain, 1000–1120 |date=January 2009 |publisher=Toronto: University of Toronto, Toronto Press, Toronto, 2009 |isbn=978-0-8020-9324-0 |page=36 |url=https://utorontopress.com/us/romanesque-architecture-and-its-sculptural-decoration-in-christian-spain-1000-1120-3 |language=en}}</ref> Porter disappeared in 1933. His most significant scholarly contributions were his revolutionary studies and insights into the spread of Romanesque sculpture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Porter, A. Kingsley |url=http://arthistorians.info/portera |website=Jahn, Johannes, ed. Die Kunstwissenschaft der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen. Leipzig: F. Meiner, 1924, vol.1. pp. 77-93; Porter, Lucy K. 'A. Kingsley Porter.' in Medieval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter. vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939, pp. xi-xv; Kleinbauer, W. Eugene. Modern Perspectives in Western Art History: An Anthology of 20th-Century Writings on the Visual Arts. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971, mentioned pp. 39, 49, 85; Kleinbauer, W. Eugene. Research Guide to the History of Western Art. Sources of Information in the Humanities, no. 2. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982, p. 125 mentioned; Nercessian, Nora. "In Desperate Defiance: A Modern Predicametn for Medieval Art." Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 7-8 (Spring/Autumn 1984): 137-146; Ehresmann, Donald L. Architecture: A Bibliographic Guide to Basic Reference Works, Histories and Handbooks. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1984, nos. 533, 535; Bazin, Germain. Histoire de l'histoire de l'art; de Vasari à nos jours. Paris: Albin Michel, 1986, pp. 258-260, 544-545; The Dictionary of Art; Seidel, Linda. "The Scholar and the Studio: A. Kingsley Porter and the Study of Medieval Architecture in the Decade Before the War." in The Architectural Historian in America: A Symposium in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Society of Architectural Historians. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1990, pp. 145-58; Mann, Janice. "Romantic Identity, Nationalism, and the Understanding of the Advent of Romanesque Art in Christian Spain." Gesta 36 no. 2 (1997): 156-64; Brush, Kathryn. "The Unshaken Tree: Walter W. S. Cook on German Kunstwissenschaft in 1924." Zeitschrift des deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft 52/53 (1998/99): 28; Crow, Thomas E. "The Intelligence of Art." The Intelligence of Art. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1999, pp. 6-10; Seidel, Linda. "Arthur Kingsley Porter (1883-1933)" in Medieval Scholarship: Biographical Studies on the Formation of a Discipline. Volume 3. New York: Garland, 2000, pp. 273-86; Petro, Pamela. The Slow Breath of Stone: a Romanesque Love Story. New York: Fourth Estate, 2005; Cahn, Walter. "Romanesque Art, Then and Now: A Personal Reminiscence." in Hourihane, Colum, ed. Romanesque Art and Thought in the Twelfth Century: Essays in Honor of Walter Cahn. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2008, pp. 32-33. |language=en |date=21 February 2018}}</ref> His study of Lombard architecture also remains the first in its class. He left his Cambridge mansion, [[Elmwood (Cambridge, Massachusetts)|Elmwood]], to Harvard University, where it has served as the official residence of Harvard's president since 1970.<ref>{{cite news |title=Widow of Archeologist Wills Million to Harvard |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/11/07/archives/widow-of-archeologist-wills-million-to-harvard.html?searchResultPosition=5 |work=The New York Times |date=7 November 1962}}</ref>

The Porter family was known for being understated and private with matters having to do with the extent of their wealth.<ref>{{cite book |title=Glenveagh Mystery |date=2012 |publisher=Merrion |page=52 |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17066990-glenveagh-mystery}}</ref> A ''New York Times'' article in October 1924 reported on the largest taxpayers in that city, with Arthur Kingsley Porter and his brother Louis listed therein. The article revealed that Louis Hopkins Porter had paid more taxes in 1923 than the estate of [[John Jacob Astor IV]], several Rockefeller family members, and the same amount as [[William Randolph Hearst]].<ref>{{cite news |title=New York -- Its Big Income. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/10/25/archives/new-york-its-big-income.html?searchResultPosition=1 |work=The New York Times |date=25 October 1924}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Income Tax Returns Made Public |work=The New York Times |date=October 24, 1924}}</ref>

*Niece Joyce Porter Arneill, political activist and philanthropist, daughter of Porter's brother Louis Hopkins Porter. At 30 years old, Arneill was founder and first president of the [[National Federation of Republican Women]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Special to THE NEW YORK |title=MRS. ARNEILL HEADS REPUBLICAN WOMEN; New National Federation Elects Denverite President |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/09/25/archives/mrs-arneill-heads-republican-women-new-national-federation-elects.html?searchResultPosition=1 |work=The New York Times |date=25 September 1938}}</ref> the women's wing of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in the United States. At age 31, Arneill was a delegate to the [[1940 Republican National Convention|Republican national convention]] before the [[1940 United States presidential election|1940 presidential election]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Convention History |url=http://www.nfrw.org/history-convention |website=www.nfrw.org}}</ref>

Porter left Elmwood to Harvard University in his will, as well as a trust for its maintenance. His widow, Lucy, left the University an additional $1,000,000 in her will ($9 million in 2017 dollars) to endow a chair to be called the A Kingsley Porter Chair Professorship.<ref>{{cite news |title=Widow of Archeologist Wills Million to Harvard |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/11/07/archives/widow-of-archeologist-wills-million-to-harvard.html?searchResultPosition=5 |work=The New York Times |date=7 November 1962}}</ref> The medievalist [[Ernst Kitzinger]] was appointed in 1967 as the chair's first professor.