Jean Michel Massing is a French art historian. He has taught at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

since 1977.

Early life

Massing was born in 1948, the son of Adrienne and Joseph Massing, mayor of

Sarreguemines Sarreguemines (; German: ''Saargemünd'' , Lorraine Franconian: ''Saargemìnn'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. It is the seat of an arrondissement and a canton. As of t ...

(1953–67). After receiving a baccalauréat in philosophy in 1967, he continued his studies at

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

, where he graduated in Archaeology and History of Art in 1971. He then completed a master's degree with a thesis on the Temptations of St Anthony (1974). His Doctorat dès lettres (1985) focused on the

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of the Calumny of Apelles. From 1974 to 1977 Massing had a scholarship at the Warburg Institute of London. In 1975, he married Ann, a painting restorer and painting conservation historian, who taught at the Hamilton Kerr Institute from 1978 to 2006.

Career

Since 1977, Massing has taught in the Department of History of Art at the

, first as Assistant Lecturer (1977–82), Lecturer (1982-1997), Reader (1997–2004) and Professor in History of Art from 2004. He was Head of department from 1996 to 1998 and from 2012 to 2014. He was elected a Fellow of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

in 1982 and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1991. He has been a Syndic of the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

since 1998, a Trustee of the Stained Glass Museum, Ely since 2003 and was a Committee Member of Kettle's Yard from 2012 to 2014. He was made Chevalier (1995) then Officer (2005) in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French Order of Arts and Letters. He published widely on topics including Classical art and its influence from Antiquity to the Renaissance, astrological imagery, religious imagery (especially the Temptations of St. Anthony, from Schongauer to Bosch) and various iconographies, for example the ''Ars memorativa'', the emergence of the emblem and emblematic symbolism. More recently he has been working on African art from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, on the relationships between European and non-European cultures from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

to the nineteenth century, and on Micronesian art, with articles on the history of

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

and the representations of foreign lands and peoples. Central to his current research is the image of people of African origin in western art. He has been a major contributor to large exhibitions, such as ''Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration'' and ''Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th centuries''. He published and edited multiple books: ''Du texte à l'image. La Calomnie d'Apelle et son iconographie'', ''Splendours of Flanders, Late Medieval Art from Cambridge Collections'', ''Etudes offertes à Jean Schaub. Festschrift Jean Schaub'', ''Erasmian Wit and Proverbial Wisdom. An Illustrated Moral Compendium for François 1er'', ''Studies in Imagery: Text and Images'', ''Studies in Imagery: The World Discovered'', ''Triumph, Protection & Dreams: East African Headrests in Context'', ''The Slave in European Art: From Renaissance Trophy to Abolitionist Emblem'', ''Marfins no Impéro Português/Ivories of the Portuguese Empire'', and ''King's College Chapel, 1515-2015: Art, Music and Religion in Cambridge''.(ed., with Nicolette Zeeman), London / Tornhout 2014.

External links

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 5 December 2014 (video)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massing, Jean Michel 1948 births Living people French art historians Fellows of King's College, Cambridge University of Strasbourg alumni