Andrew Michael Jaffé (3 June 1923 – 13 July 1997) was a British art historian and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

. He was Director 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 V ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for 17 years, from 1973 to 1990.

Life

Born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, he was educated at Wagner's and at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

. Jaffé's undergraduate studies were delayed for four years by

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, during which time he served in the RNVR. He came up to King's College, Cambridge in 1945, studying History before changing to English, in which subject he got a First. He became President of the Marlowe Society, and was editor of '' Granta'' while a student. After Cambridge, he studied art history at the

Courtauld Institute 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 c ...

, where he attended Johannes Wilde's lectures and had access to the Seilern Collection; this was followed by research at Harvard on Rubens and his contemporaries. He became a Fellow of King's College in 1952, holding the position until his death; was appointed as Cambridge University's only Assistant Lecturer in Fine Arts in 1956; and began undergraduate teaching in the subject. He held the post for four years until going to Washington University in 1960, where he was briefly Professor of Renaissance Art until returning to Cambridge University in 1961, when he was appointed Lecturer in Fine Arts. In 1968 he was appointed Reader in History of Western Art, and he became Head of Department of History of Art in 1970, a position he held until 1973 and his appointment to the Directorship of the Fitzwilliam Museum. Jaffé married Patricia Milne-Henderson in 1964, and they had two sons and two daughters. Jaffé owned the country house

Clifton Maybank Clifton Maybank is a hamlet and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is located about a mile southwest of the village of Bradford Abbas. It is known for Clifton Maybank House, a country house with surviving Tudor fabric. Dorset Count ...

near Yeovil in Somerset. He was appointed a CBE in 1989. He died on 13 July 1997. A bronze portrait bust of Jaffé by Elisabeth Frink is in the Fitzwilliam.

Selected works

*''Van Dyck's Antwerp Sketchbook'' 1966 *''Rubens'' 1967 *''Jacob Jordaens 1593–1678'' 1968 *''Rubens and Italy'' 1977 *''Rubens: catalogo completo'' 1989 *''Old master drawings from Chatsworth'' 1993 *editor of ''The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings'' 1994

References

External links

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, Michael 1923 births 1997 deaths 20th-century British historians People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of King's College, Cambridge University of Washington faculty British art historians English curators Directors of museums in the United Kingdom People associated with the Fitzwilliam Museum Scholars of Netherlandish art Peter Paul Rubens Writers from London