Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Humphrey Brooke (31 January 1914 – 24 December 1988) was a British civil servant and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

. He was a Monuments Man during the Second World War, then deputy director of London's

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

and secretary of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

from 1952 to 1968. Serious depression in his 50s led to his early retirement, after which he became "an internationally acknowledged expert on roses".

Early life

Humphrey Brooke was born on 31 January 1914 into a family of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

wool mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods s ...

ers. He was educated at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

and

Magdalen College 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 st ...

, University of Oxford, where he graduated with a first in modern history.

Career

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Brooke worked in Italy with the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, rising to the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

, and did further such work in 1946 in Austria. He was deputy director of London's

, and then Secretary of the

from 1952 to 1968. In 1960, he declared that a painting believed to have been painted by

Andrea del Verrocchio Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the su ...

was actually painted by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

, making it the oldest known painting by Leonardo. Serious manic depression led to his early retirement, after which he became "an internationally acknowledged expert on roses". He grew over 500 varieties of roses at his home, Lime Kiln in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, and in 1971 opened Lime Kiln to the public, calling it "the first rosarium in Great Britain". Brooke thought that his manic depression "could only be cured by sex and smoking". He studied many other historical figures who may have suffered from manic depression, and was particularly interested in

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...

batsman

Harold Gimblett Harold Gimblett (19 October 1914 – 30 March 1978) was a cricketer who played for Somerset and England. He was known for his fast scoring as an opening batsman and for the much-repeated story of his debut. In a book first published in 1982 ...

. In 1982, Brooke wrote an article for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' about his illness, which received over 150 responses.

Personal life

Brooke married Nathalie Benckendorff, who he met in Austria after the war while working as a monuments man. Her mother was the harpist

Maria Korchinska Maria Korchinska (16 February 189517 April 1979) was a distinguished 20th-century Russian harpist and one of the leading 20th-century harpists in Great Britain. Early life Korchinska entered the Moscow Conservatory to study both piano and harp in ...

. Benckendorff's grandfather,

Alexander Konstantinovich Benckendorff Count Alexander Philipp Konstantin Ludwig von Benckendorff (russian: link=no, Александр Константинович Бенкендорф, Alexander Konstantinovich Benkendorf; 1 August 1849 – 11 January 1917) was a Russian diplomat, of ...

, was the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

's last ambassador to the UK. Brooke was friends with fellow

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

rosarian Some rose growers are known for their particular contributions to the field. These include: A * David C.H. Austin (1926–2018), British breeder of English-style roses including the 'Wife of Bath' B * René Barbier (1870–1931), of '' Bar ...

Peter Beales. Brooke died on 24 December 1988. A portrait of Brooke smoking by Olwyn Bowey hangs at the Royal Academy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Humphrey 1914 births 1988 deaths British art historians British curators Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Monuments men Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire People with bipolar disorder King's Royal Rifle Corps officers British Army personnel of World War II