Colin Tobias Eisler is an art historian, Robert Lehman Professor of Fine Arts at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

's Institute of Fine Arts, and a widely published expert on

early Netherlandish art Early Netherlandish painting, traditionally known as the Flemish Primitives, refers to the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. It flourished especial ...

. Eisler was born in

Hamburg, Germany (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1931. His family subsequently moved to the United States, where Eisler received his undergraduate degree from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1952. He studied at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

from 1952 to 1953, then completed his master's degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

the following year. He was hired to teach art history at Yale from 1955–1957 while he was working on his doctorate. Eisler received his PhD from Harvard in 1957, and spent the following year as a Fellow at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

in Princeton, New Jersey. He has taught at New York University since 1958. His research and writing have been furthered by many grants and awards, including a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, a

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Senior Fellowship, and a Henry Fellowship at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. He was the recipient of a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

for his 80th birthday in 2011, when his colleagues published ''New Studies on Old Masters: Essays in Renaissance Art in Honour of Colin Eisler.''

Selected works

*1963. ''German Drawings from the 16th Century to the Expressionists.'' New York: Shorewood. *1975. ''The Seeing Hand: A Treasury of Great Master Drawings.'' Harper & Row. *1989. ''The Genius of Jacopo Bellini.'' New York: Harry N. Abrams. *1991. ''Durer's Animals.'' Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. *1995. ''Paintings in the Hermitage.'' Stewart, Tabori and Chang. *1996. ''Masterworks in Berlin: A City's Paintings Reunited.'' Boston: Little, Brown and Company. *2003. ''Early Netherlandish Painting: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.'' Philip Wilson Publishers. *2012. ''Flemish And Dutch Drawings From The Fifteenth To The Eighteenth Century: Drawings Of The Masters.'' Literary Licensing, Inc.

References

*Sorenson, Lee.
Eisler, Colin Tobias
in ''Dictionary of Art Historians Online.'' Retrieved 24 June 2019.

" Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Retrieved 30 September 2013.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisler, Colin 1931 births Living people American art historians German emigrants to the United States New York University faculty Harvard University alumni Yale University alumni