Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
GoingBatty (talk | contribs) General fixes and manual cleanup, typo(s) fixed: ’s → 's (9), 1871-1886 → 1871–1886 (2) |
||
Line 17:
}}
'''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 |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 artistic contribution was 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
==Early
Porter was born on February 16, 1883 in [[Darien, Connecticut]], the third son born to a wealthy family. The family also kept a residence in New York City. Porter prepared at the [[Browning School]] in New York City, alongside classmate [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] He then attended [[Yale University]], as had his father, Timothy Hopkins Porter, and his two older brothers, Louis Hopkins Porter and Blachley Hoyt Porter, several uncles and cousins. Porter had intended to study law. He had an experience while traveling in France and seeing [[Coutances Cathedral]] that made him interested in architecture.<ref>{{cite book |title=Glenveagh mystery : the life, work and disappearance of Arthur Kinglsey Porter |date=2012 |publisher=Merrion |isbn=9781908928108 |page=53}}</ref>
Line 25:
==Family==
Arthur Kingsley Porter was the son of Timothy Hopkins Porter and Maria Louisa Hoyt, one of the first women to graduate from [[Vassar College]].<ref>{{cite web |title=First Students - Vassar College Encyclopedia - Vassar College |url=http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/early-vassar/first-students.html |website=vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu}}</ref> When
In a biography of
:''“All the literature consulted converged on one main point: the Porters of Connecticut combined economic privilege with the finest pedigrees in education.”''<ref>{{cite book |title=Glenveagh Mystery |date=2012 |publisher=Merrion |page=29 |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17066990-glenveagh-mystery}}</ref>
Line 35:
:''“The Hoyts of Connecticut had long established their position at the top of the social pecking order over centuries of diligent work and astute investment. In the late nineteenth century, the United States was admitting large numbers of Europeans who sought to make their fortune in the land of opportunity. It was therefore paramount to the survival of the oldest families that wealth was not the only requirement for admittance to the highest social strata. The Hoyts fulfilled all the criteria for being one of the most influential families in Connecticut, by possessing great wealth but also having an old family tradition that no amount of money could buy.”<ref>{{cite book |title=Glenveagh Mystery |date=2012 |publisher=Merrion |page=30 |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17066990-glenveagh-mystery}}</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 exposed 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]].
He married Lucy Bryant Wallace in 1912 in New York City; she acted as chief photographer for the pair from 1919 onwards, and was known during their marriage as Lucy Queensley Porter. They eventually moved on to Italy, and then Greece and Spain, and finally to Ireland.
Line 43:
==Notable Relatives==
*Cousin [[Noah Porter]], Academic, author, and the 11th President of [[Yale College]] from
*Uncle [[Schuyler Merritt]], Republican member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] representing
**Merritt acted as a surrogate father to A. Kingsley Porter in his own
**Merritt was a mentor to
* Uncle Frederick Maxfield Hoyt, Yacht Designer, Naval Architect and Sailor. Hoyt was a member of the New York Yacht Club, and Navigator on the sailing yacht [[Atlantic (yacht)]] when she won the 1905 [[Kaiser's Cup]] Race and set a transatlantic sailing record that would stand for 100 years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Century-old Transatlantic Record broken by two boats |url=https://newatlas.com/century-old-transatlantic-record-broken-by-two-boats/4103/ |work=New Atlas |date=1 June 2005 |language=en}}</ref> Hoyt was also a first-class passenger on the [[RMS Titanic]] in 1912. After placing his wife in Collapsible Lifeboat D, he ascended to the bridge to have a drink with his friend Titanic Captain [[Edward Smith (sea captain)]], before jumping into the water himself.<ref>{{cite web |title=JUMPED FROM SINKING SHIP |url=https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/jumped-from-sinking-ship.html |website=Encyclopedia Titanica |language=english |date=28 August 2003}}</ref>
*Niece Joyce Porter Arneill, political activist and philanthropist, daughter of
==Yale & Harvard Professorships==
*Porter held the title of Assistant Professor in the History of Art at Yale University from
** “''To provide salaries for professors or instructors in the history of art in the academic department, as might be required. To provide for the running and overhead expenses of such a department, the purchases of equipment, slides, photographs, books, etc. Any residue to be used for the purchase of additional works of art to add to the collection of the Art School, and for the proper maintenance and housing of the same.”''
*The University declined the offer, which could only be used for the purposes he set out. He became frustrated at Yale's lack of openness to having a full department dedicated to the study of the History of Art and Architecture.
Line 81:
**Porter was born at Blachley lodge in Darien, Connecticut in February 1883
*Elmwood [[File:Elmwood-Winter08.jpg|thumb|Elmwood, Cambridge, MA]]
**Porter's Cambridge Mansion, Elmwood, had been previously occupied by [[Elbridge Gerry]], a signer of the [[US Declaration of Independence]] and [[Vice President of the United States]] under President [[James Madison]]. Poet [[James Russell Lowell]] was born at Elmwood and lived there most of his life. Lowell's friend [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] wrote a poem about the house entitled “The Herons of Elmwood”<ref>{{cite web |title=Birds of Passage (Collection)/The Herons of Elmwood |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/
**Porter purchased Elmwood from Lowell's heirs in 1920, and put significant resources into improving it while honoring the home's history.<ref>{{cite web |title=Harvard University Archives, HUG 1706.105, Arthur Kingsley Porter Papers Correspondence, Correspondence re. Purchases of Elmwood, Letter from Dr Francis L. Burnett, 205 Beacon Street, Boston, MA, 1 February 1923, re. the letting of Elmwood |date=1 February 1923}}</ref>
**Porter often held class at Elmwood and allowed students to see relics from his travels.
**Porter left Elmwood to Harvard in his will, along with a $100,000 trust for its care.
**Lucy Porter died in 1962 and left Harvard University an additional $1 million.
**Elmwood became the official residence of Harvard University's President in 1970, and remains so today.
*Glenveagh Castle, Ireland [[File:Glenveagh Castle - geograph.org.uk - 395086.jpg|thumb|Glenveagh Castle (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)]]
**Porter purchased Glenveagh Castle and its surrounding 30,000 acres in 1929. After his disappearance, Lucy Porter sold the property to Henry Plumer McHilhenny, one of Porter's former students from Harvard. McHilhenny would go on to entertain many notable guests at the castle, including Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, [[Marilyn Monroe]] and John Wayne.<ref>{{cite web |title=Glenveagh Castle – Cruelty, Cowboys and Celebrities |url=https://dailyscribbling.com/the-secret-life-of-irish-castles/glenveagh-castle-cruelty-cowboys-and-celebrities/ |website=Daily Scribbling |language=en |date=15 June 2014}}</ref>
==Achievements & Selected works==
Throughout his career, Porter wrote 293 works that were published in 934 publications, in 7 languages, with 7,452 library holdings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Porter, Arthur Kingsley 1883-1933 |url=http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50-23212}}</ref> Porter's photographic collection contains 35,000 photographs and 11,700 negatives, pertaining to every aspect of medieval art.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ackermann, J. ‘The Visual Arts Collection: Manifold Resources’, in L. Todd and M. Banta (eds). The Invention of Photography and Its Impact of Learning: Photographs from Harvard University and Radclff College and from the Collection of Harrison D. Horblit |date=1989 |publisher=Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Library |page=170}}</ref>
*Medieval Architecture: Its Origins and Development, with Lists of Monuments and Bibliographies (2 volumes, [[Baker & Taylor]], 1909)
*The Construction of Lombard and Gothic Vaults (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911)
| |||