John Kinder Gowran Shearman (pronounced "Sherman"; 24 June 1931 – 11 August 2003) was an English
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, ...
who also taught in America. He was a specialist in
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
painting, described by his colleague
James S. Ackerman
James Sloss Ackerman (November 8, 1919 – December 31, 2016) was an American architectural historian, a major scholar of Michelangelo's architecture, of Palladio and of Italian Renaissance architectural theory.
In 2017, Ackerman was awarded t ...
as "the leading scholar of Italian Renaissance painting", who published several influential works, but whose expected major book on
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...
painting, for the Penguin/Yale History of Art series (commissioned in 1984, and still a gap in the series in 2019), never appeared.
[Independent] However, what is widely acknowledged as his most influential book, on the concept of
Mannerism
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ital ...
, published in 1967, is still in print.
Early life and education
Born in 1931 to Charles E. G. Shearman, a British army brigadier, and Evelyn Shearman (née White) in
Aldershot
Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...
, Hampshire,
[https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1515/24_Shearman_1820.pdf ] John Shearman was educated in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
at
St Edmund's School, Hindhead
, established = 1874
, closed =
, type = Independent prep and senior school(boarding and day)
, religious_affiliation =
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = A. J. Walliker MA ( Cantab.)
...
, and
Felsted School
(Keep your Faith)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Chris Townsend
, r_head ...
in Essex.
After completing his two year
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
in Germany, he took up a place at
The Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...
in 1951 at the invitation of
Samuel Courtauld, who he had met while on a school trip to London; Shearman’s interest in art and architecture having been stimulated by his father, a keen amateur artist, and his grandfather,
Ernest Charles Shearman, a respected British ecclesiastical architect.
Shearman graduated from the Courtauld with a degree in art history in 1955 and completed his Ph.D in 1957. His doctoral thesis, ''Developments in the Use of Colour in Tuscan Paintings of the Early 16th Century'', was supervised by the eminent art historian
Johannes Wilde
Johannes Wilde CBE (2 July 1891 – 13 September 1970) was a Hungarian art historian and teacher of art history. He later became an Austrian, and then a British, citizen. He was a noted expert on the drawings of Michelangelo. Wilde was a pione ...
,
to whom Shearman later dedicated his book on
Andrea del Sarto
Andrea del Sarto (, , ; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces ...
in 1965.
Career
Shearman remained at the Courtauld after completing his studies firstly as a lecturer, becoming Fellow of 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 schola ...
in
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...
from 1964,
then Reader at the Courtauld from 1967, and Deputy Director 1974–1979. He had hoped for the Directorship of the Courtauld upon the retirement of
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy.
Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...
in 1974 but his application was not successful; the position going to the medievalist
Peter Lasko, who had administrative experience, although some believed it was Shearman’s close association with Blunt, already falling out of favour, that thwarted this aspiration.
During his time at the Courtauld he contributed photographs to the
Conway Library whose archive, of primarily architectural images, is being digitised under the wider Courtauld Connects project. After his death, his library, containing substantial resources on Renaissance and Baroque art including about 200 books on Raphael, was bequeathed to the Courtauld.
Five years after his failure to become Director of the Courtauld Institute Shearman returned to Princeton, where he was chair of the art and archaeology department from 1979.
Shearman moved to
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 highe ...
in 1987 as professor of fine arts and, in 1989, he received the William Dorr Boardman Professorship becoming chair of the Fine Arts Department from 1990 to 1993. In 1994, until his retirement in 2002, he was Charles Adams University Professor.
Often involved in identifying and conserving works of art, Shearman worked with the Italian and Vatican authorities on issues including the damage after the
1966 Flood of the River Arno in Florence and the
Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes, serving on the Pontifical Advisory Commission.
He also served on the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
international advisory committee for the
restoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s ''The Last Supper'', that took more than twenty years from 1979 to 1999.
As curator he even oversaw the restoration of the Faculty Room while at Harvard.
In 2001, he identified an Andrea del Sarto altarpiece that had been lost for 350 years.
He also served on various editorial boards, including
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 si ...
(1968–2003), L’Arte (1969–73), Art Quarterly (1969–72), RILA/BHA (1971–99), Art 562 Benjamin Paul History (1977–78), and the Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte (1984–89).
His book ''Raphael in Early Modern Sources 1483 to 1600'', which he announced he was working on at a conference in honour of Raphael’s five hundredth birthday at the
Bibliotheca Hertziana
Bibliotheca may refer to:
* ''Bibliotheca'' (Pseudo-Apollodorus), a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends
* ''Bibliotheca historica'', a first century BC work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus
* ''Bibliotheca'' ( ...
in Rome in 1983, was completed shortly before his death and published posthumously in 2003. The dedication of the book to his teachers at the Courtauld, Anthony Blunt and Johannes Wilde, reflects, as Benjamin Paul said in his obituary for the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...
, that Shearman “had come full circle and truly completed his life’s work”.
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 ...
, aptly named ''Coming About''…''a Festschrift for John Shearman,'' making reference to Shearman’s love of sailing, was published in 2001 with contributions from no fewer than fifty-three of his students,
honouring his status as “a consummate scholar-teacher”.
Honours
1976 Fellow of the British Academy
1979 The Serena Medal for Italian Studies, British Academy
1979 Fellow Accademia del Disegno, Florence
1983 Bronze Medal of the Collège de France
1993 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
1994 The Charles Rufus Morey Award for his book ''Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance''
1995 Fellow Accademia si San Luca, Rome
2000/2001 Honorary Fellow of the Courtauld Institute of Art
He was also a Fellow of the Accademia Raffaello (Urbino)
Private life
Shearman was married three times; in 1957 to Jane Dalrymple Smith (d.1982)
with whom he had four children (one son, Michael and three daughters, Juliet, Niccola and Sarah).
Shortly after his first wife’s death, he married Sally Roskill, the first wife of the art historian Mark Roskill, although they divorced in 1997, and, in 1998, he married fellow art historian
Kathryn Brush, Distinguished University Professor Emerita at the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
.
He was a keen sailor, interested in yacht and dinghy sailing,
and a member of the Bembridge Sailing Club.
John Shearman died of a heart attack near
Lethbridge, Alberta
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to t ...
on a holiday with his wife in the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
[Harvard Gazette, The New York Times, Independent] in 2003.
Publications
His publications include:
*''
Andrea del Sarto
Andrea del Sarto (, , ; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces ...
'' Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965
*''
Mannerism
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ital ...
'', London, Penguin/Baltimore, MD, 1967
*''
Raphael's Cartoons in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, and the Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel''. London: Phaidon, 1972; edited, and Hirst, Michael. Wilde, Johannes.
*''The
Vatican Stanze: Functions and Decorations''. British Academy Italian Lecture 1971. London: Oxford University Press, 1972
*''Michelangelo: Six Lectures''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978
*''The Early Italian Pictures in the
Collection of Her Majesty the Queen'', Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983
*''Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance'',
A. W. Mellon lectures in the Fine Arts 1988 Bollingen Series 35, 37. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992
*''Raphael in Early Modern Sources 1483–1602'', 2003, Yale University Press, (Updated edition)
Notes
References
Dictionary of Art Historians*
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
by Douglas Martin, 29 August 2003.
ObituaryLos Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
by Claudia Luther, 30 August 2003
Obituary The Harvard Gazette
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 ...
by Ken Gewertz, 18 September 2003
ObituaryThe Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
by
Julian Gardner, 22 August 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shearman, John
1931 births
2003 deaths
English art historians
Academics of the Courtauld Institute of Art
Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art
Harvard University faculty
Princeton University faculty
Fellows of the British Academy
People educated at Felsted School
People educated at St Edmund's School, Hindhead
Writers from Aldershot
English male non-fiction writers
20th-century English male writers