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American art historian (1883–1933) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arthur Kingsley Porter (1883–1933) was an American archaeologist, art historian, and medievalist. He was chair of Harvard University’s art history department, and was the first American scholar of Romanesque architecture to achieve international recognition.[1] Porter disappeared in 1933. His most significant scholarly contributions were his revolutionary studies and insights into the spread of Romanesque sculpture.[2] His study of Lombard architecture also remains the first in its class. He left his Cambridge mansion, Elmwood, to Harvard University, where it has served as the official residence of Harvard's president since 1970.[3]
Arthur Kingsley Porter | |
|---|---|
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| Born | February 16, 1883 Darien, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | July 8, 1933 (aged 50) |
| Resting place | Woodland Cemetery, Stamford, Connecticut |
| Education | Yale University Columbia University |
| Spouse | Lucy Bryant Wallace |
| Parent(s) | Timothy Hopkins Porter, Maria Louisa Hoyt |
Porter was born on February 16, 1883, in Darien, Connecticut, the third son born to a wealthy family that also kept a residence in New York City. Porter prepared at the Browning School in New York City, alongside classmate John D. Rockefeller Jr. He then attended Yale University, as had his two older brothers, Louis Hopkins Porter and Blachley Hoyt Porter, his father, Timothy Hopkins Porter, several uncles and cousins. Porter had intended to study law. In 1904, while traveling in France, seeing Coutances cathedral inspired an interest in architecture.[4] After graduating fourth in his class at Yale that year,[5] he began a two-year study of architectural practice as a special student at Columbia University from 1904 to 1906.[6]
Arthur Kingsley Porter was the son of Timothy Hopkins Porter, a banker,[7] and Maria Louisa Hoyt, one of the first women to graduate from Vassar College.[8] When his parents married in 1870[9] they merged two of Connecticut's oldest and most influential families,[10] both groups of ancestors having arrived in Connecticut in the early 1600s.
In a biography of Porter's life, it was said of the Porters:
And of the Hoyt family:
The Porter family was known for being understated and private with matters having to do with the extent of their wealth.[13] A New York Times article in October 1924 reported on the largest taxpayers in that city, with Arthur Kingsley Porter and his brother Louis listed therein. The article revealed that Louis Hopkins Porter had paid more taxes in 1923 than the estate of John Jacob Astor IV, several Rockefeller family members, and the same amount as William Randolph Hearst.[14][15]
He married Lucy Bryant Wallace in 1912 in New York City. She acted as chief photographer for the pair from 1919 onward. They eventually traveled for long stays in Italy, Greece and Spain, and finally to Ireland.
Arthur Porter disappeared at age 50, in July 1933. He was outside during a storm on Inishbofin Island, near Glenveagh Castle, his home in Ireland, and was presumed drowned.[16] His wife later told the coroner of her six-hour search with two local fishermen. The inquest concluded that he had probably died from misadventure.
Porter taught as a lecturer at Yale University in 1915, and was named Assistant Professor in the History of Art in 1917. In January 1916, he proposed giving the University $500,000 ($12 million in 2017 dollars) in order to establish a department of art history. Porter laid out the very specific purposes for which the money was to be used[23]
[t]o provide salaries for professors or instructors in the history of art in the academic department, as might be required. To provide for the running and overhead expenses of such a department, the purchases of equipment, slides, photographs, books, etc. Any residue to be used for the purchase of additional works of art to add to the collection of the Art School, and for the proper maintenance and housing of the same.
The University declined the offer, which could only be used for the purposes he set out.
Porter became frustrated at Yale's lack of openness to having a full department dedicated to the study of the history of art and architecture. In 1918 he left Yale to lead architectural preservation efforts by the French government caused by war damage and was the only American invited to join said commission.[24]
Porter began teaching at Harvard University in 1921. He and his wife bought Cambridge mansion Elmwood that same year. He was appointed to the newly established William Dorr Boardman Memorial Professorship of Fine Arts in January 1925.[25] In 1923 and 1924 he taught as an exchange professor in France and visiting professor Spain.[7] Porter taught at Harvard until his disappearance in 1933.
Porter left Elmwood to Harvard University in his will, as well as a trust for its maintenance. His widow, Lucy, left the University an additional $1,000,000 in her will ($9 million in 2017 dollars) to endow a chair to be called the A Kingsley Porter Chair Professorship.[26] The medievalist Ernst Kitzinger was appointed in 1967 as the chair's first professor.
Porter has been called a ‘real-life Indiana Jones’.[27] He was unique in the academic community, given he was a multimillionaire in his own right, with his own European castle, and the means to travel extensively, often for more than a year at a time. He was so respected that the University let him do so.
Sarcophagus curse
While his overall station and manner of teaching, exploring, researching and writing certainly fit this "Indiana Jones" profile, perhaps nothing made this a more fitting comparison than the incident with the sarcophagus commissioned by Count Pedro Ansùrez in 1093 for his young son Alfonso.
Porter came into possession of the sarcophagus, and took it to Harvard as a gift to the university's Fogg Museum, where it was prominently displayed. The sarcophagus enabled Porter to prove his theory on the spread of Romanesque sculpture:
In 1931, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, the 17th Duke of Alba, discovered the sarcophagus had been removed from Lèon and brought to Harvard by Porter. The Spanish government became involved with the negotiations with Harvard, but before any deal was reached, Alfonso XIII of Spain was overthrown by a revolution, and so the slab remained on display at Harvard in 1931.[29] Negotiations resumed in 1933, and Porter consented for the sarcophagus lid to be returned to Léon in 8 July 1933.
Porter wrote 293 works that were published in 934 publications, in seven languages, with 7,452 library holdings.[37] Porter's photographic collection contains 35,000 photographs and 11,700 negatives, pertaining to every aspect of medieval art.[38] Photographs taken by Porter are held in the Conway Library of art and architecture at The Courtauld Institute in London.[39]
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