Sir John Boardman, (; born 20 August 1927) is a classical archaeologist 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 has been described as "Britain's most distinguished historian of

ancient Greek art Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic d ...

Biography

John Boardman was educated at

Chigwell School Chigwell School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition located in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest (district), Epping Forest district of Essex. It consists of ...

(1938–1945); then Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classi ...

beginning in 1945. After completing two years' national service in the Intelligence Corps he spent three years in Greece, from 1952 to 1955, as the Assistant Director of the

British School at Athens , image = Image-Bsa athens library.jpg , image_size = 300px , image_upright= , alt= , caption = The library of the BSA , latin_name= , motto= , founder = The Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, called the foundation meeti ...

. He married Sheila Stanford in 1952 (d. 2005), and has two children, Julia and Mark. On his return to England in 1955, Boardman took up the post of Assistant Keeper at the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...

in Oxford, thus beginning his lifelong affiliation with it. In 1959 he was appointed

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in Classical Archaeology in the University of Oxford, and in 1963 was appointed a Fellow of

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, c ...

. Here he remained until his appointment as Lincoln Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, a position previously held by John Beazley, and the concomitant Fellowship of Lincoln College in 1978. He was knighted in 1989 and retired in 1994, and is now Emeritus Professor. John Boardman is a Fellow of the British Academy, from whom he received the

Kenyon Medal The Kenyon Medal is awarded every two years by the British Academy 'in recognition of work in the field of classical studies and archaeology'. The medal was endowed by Sir Frederic Kenyon and was first awarded in 1957. List of recipients SourceB ...

in 1995. He was awarded the Onassis Prize for Humanities in 2009. He is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and of Merton and Lincoln Colleges in Oxford, as well as the holder of many other academic distinctions. He has carried out archaeological excavations at many sites, including in Smyrna, Crete, Emporio in

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...

and at Tocra in Libya. His voluminous publications focus primarily on the art and architecture of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

, and in particular on sculpture, engraved gems, and vase-painting. He is the author of the book ''The Greeks Overseas'',The Greeks Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade, Google Books reviewLibrary Thing review
/ref> on the ancient Greek diaspora throughout the Mediterranean, in which Greek populations from the Aegean region, Greek coastal mainland and Western Turkey settled the coastal regions of Italy, North Africa, southern France, reaching as far as southern Spain. The book has now undergone four editions, as new archaeological research emerges.

Selected publications

The Cretan Collection in Oxford (1961) *''Excavations at Emporio, Chios'' (1964) *''The Greeks Overseas'' (1st ed. 1964; rev. ed. 1973; 3rd ed. 1980; 4th ed. 1999) The Cretan Collection in Oxford (1961) The Date of the Knossos Tablets (1963) Island Gems (1963) *''Excavations at Tocra'' (with J. Hayes, 1966, 1973) *''Archaic Greek Gems'' (1968) *''Greek Gems and Finger Rings'' (1970, 2001) *''Greek Burial Customs'' (1971) with D.C. Kurtz CVA Ashmolean Museum 3 (1975) CVA Castle Ashby, with M. Robertson (1980) * ''The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity'', a volume based on his series of Andrew Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. in 1993. *4 Handbooks on Greek Vase Painting *3 Handbooks on Greek Sculpture 10 handbooks and collection catalogues on ancient gems and rings * ''Persia and the West (2000) *''The History of Greek Vases'' (2001) *''The Archaeology of Nostalgia'' (2002) *''Greece and the Hellenistic World'' (2002) *''The World of Ancient Art'' (2006) *''The Marlborough Gems'' (2009) *''The Relief Plaques of Central Asia and China'' (2009/10) *''The Triumph of Dionysos'' (2014) *''The Greeks in Asia'' (2015) *''Greek Art'', ' The World of Art Library' series (first ed. 1964; latest ed. 2016) *''Alexander the Great: From His Death to the Present Day'' (2019)

References

Sources

* ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a group of not ...

'', 2006.
Dictionary of Art Historians:Boardman, John

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boardman, John English archaeologists English art historians Classical archaeologists English classical scholars Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Knights Bachelor 1927 births Living people Lincoln Professors of Classical Archaeology and Art English male non-fiction writers Officers of the Order of the British Empire