Lionel Benedict Nicolson (6 August 1914 – 22 May 1978) was a British
art historian and author.
Nicolson was the elder son of authors
Harold Nicolson and
Vita Sackville-West
Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, CH (née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer.
Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as wel ...
and the brother of writer and politician
Nigel
Nigel ( ) is an English language, English masculine given name.
The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walte ...
. His godmothers were
Violet Trefusis
Violet Trefusis (''née'' Keppel; 6 June 1894 – 29 February 1972) was an English socialite and author. She is chiefly remembered for her lengthy affair with the writer Vita Sackville-West that both women continued after their respective marria ...
,
Olive Custance
Olive Eleanor Custance (7 February 1874 – 12 February 1944), also known as Lady Alfred Douglas, was an English poet and wife of Lord Alfred Douglas. She was part of the aesthetic movement of the 1890s, and a contributor to '' The Yellow ...
and
Rosamund Grosvenor
The name Rosamund (, also spelled Rosamond and Rosamunde) is a feminine given name and can also be a family name (surname). Originally it combined the Germanic elements ''hros'', meaning ''horse'', and ''mund'', meaning "protection". Later, it ...
.
The boys grew up at
Sissinghurst Castle
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, at Sissinghurst in the Weald of Kent in England, was created by Vita Sackville-West, poet and writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. It is among the most famous gardens in England and is desig ...
, in the rural depths of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, surrounded by the renowned gardens that are now run by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. Nicolson was educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...
and
Balliol College, Oxford, studying modern history. In 1939, he was appointed Deputy
Surveyor of the King's Pictures under
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...
, but soon after, war was declared and he joined the
Intelligence Corps, rising to the rank of captain. In 1945 he resumed his Royal post as Deputy Surveyor, then under
Anthony Blunt.
He was married on 8 August 1955 to
Luisa Vertova, the elder daughter of Professor Giacomo Vertova of
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
, and they had a daughter, Vanessa Pepita Giovanna (b. 1956), before divorcing in 1962.
After being appointed a
MVO, Nicolson resigned from the
Royal Household in 1947 and became editor of ''
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 ...
(1947–1978).'' Nicolson spent much of his life collecting photographs of early seventeenth-century works in the Caravaggio manner which he wrote about in ''
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 ...
'' and which eventually filled three large volumes.
Nicolson died in 1978 and was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in
Sissinghurst
Sissinghurst is a small village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Originally called ''Milkhouse Street'' (also referred to as ''Mylkehouse''), Sissinghurst changed its name in the 1850s, possibly to avoid association with the smu ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, adjacent to his father.
Archive & library
Nicolson's archive is in the
Paul Mellon Centre where it is fully catalogued and available for consultation. The archive includes material created and collected by Nicolson, largely in a personal rather than professional capacity, throughout his life. The majority pertains to 1933–1939. The collection primarily includes journals and correspondence.
Ancestors
Works
*''The Painters of
Ferrara'' (1950)
*''
Hendrick Terbrugghen
Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...
'' (1958)
*''
Wright of Derby: Painter of Light'' (1968)
*''The Treasures of the
Foundling Hospital'' (1972)
*''
Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
: The Studio of the Painter'' (1973)
*''
Georges de La Tour
Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652) was a French Baroque painter, who spent most of his working life in the Duchy of Lorraine, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious chia ...
'' (1974)
References
Sources
''Playing by the Rules'' - Kennedy Fraser
External links
Benedict Nicolson archiveat the
Paul Mellon Centre
See also
*
List of Bloomsbury Group people
This is a list of people associated with the Bloomsbury Group. Much about the group is controversial, including its membership: it has been said that "the three words 'the Bloomsbury group' have been so much used as to have become almost unusable" ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolson, Benedict
1914 births
1978 deaths
English art historians
Intelligence Corps officers
LGBT writers from England
Members of the Royal Victorian Order
People educated at Eton College
20th-century English historians
20th-century LGBT people