Architect and historian of medieval building, noted for his assertion that Gothic architecture's system of ribbed vaulting was unnecessary for structural reasons. Abraham served as a soldier in World War I. After the war, he worked on the reconstruction of monument destroyed by the war in the north of France. He trained in the architectural studio of Pascal et Recoura at the Ecole des beaux-arts in Paris, graduating in 1920. He further studied at the l'Ecole du Louvre between 1921 and 1924.

Architectural historian and professor of Fine Arts, Harvard University, 1960-1990. Ackerman's father, Lloyd Stuart Ackerman (1882-1968), was a prosperous San Francisco attorney and his mother, Louise Sloss (Ackerman) (1888-1983), was later a librarian at the San Francisco Museum of Art (today the SF Museum of Modern Art). Art as a child, he was exposed to art when his family toured European museums in 1932. At age 15, he read Vision and Design by Roger Fry, which opened him to the formal interpretation of art.

Canadian Architectural historian; wrote most complete study to date on Gothic vaulting systems. Acland was born in Toronto in 1917 and graduated from Syracuse University, New York, in 1942 with a B.A. in Architecture. Immediately afterwards, Acland joined the Canadian army, then fighting World War II. During his military service, which lasted from 1942 to 1945, Acland worked on the design of factories as well as with Canadian Army Photo Intelligence. Following the war he attended Harvard University where he obtained an M.A. in Philosophy in 1952.

Social historian, novelist; author of a book on medieval architecture. Adams' parents were the diplomat and congressman Charles Francis Adams, Sr. (1807-1886) and shipping heiress Abigail Brooks Adams (1808-1889); he was the grandson of President John Quincy Adams and great-grandson of President John Adams. Adams attended Dixwell School before Harvard College--an experience he valued little--graduating in 1858. Among his life-long friends he met at Harvard was the future architect Henry Hobson Richardson.

Historian of Nigerian art and director, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. Adepegba attended graduate school at Indiana University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1976 in art history under the supervision of Roy Sieber. He pursued an active research agenda writing on a range of Nigerian art topics. His over 40 works include a paper on Nok terracottas, the Yoruba concept of art, and contemporary Nigerian art.

Architectural historian, architect and archaeologist; specialist in ancient excavations, and medieval German architecture. Adler attended the Berlin Kunstakademie beginning in 1841. In 1846 he continued at the University of Berlin (Bauakademie). From 1854 he taught there under Ferdinand von Arnim (1814-1856) and from 1859 as a Dozent for the history of architecture. He was made professor at the Akademie in 1861 succeeding in the position previously held by Wilhelm Lübke.

Practicing architect, teacher of and author on Greek and Italian architecture. Anderson was born in Dundee, Scotland, to James Anderson, a tea dealer, and Margaret Steel (Anderson). In his early years he had limited access to artistic and architectural education. That which he did get was primarily through office routine and private reading. In 1877 he became an apprentice to the architect James Gillespie (1854-1914) of St. Andrews. He subsequently moved to an office in Dundee, and ultimately to Glasgow by 1888, where he worked as a draftsman with Thomas Lennox Watson (1850-1920).

Early discoverer that Greek architecture had been brightly colored. Angell studied architecture at the Royal Academy in London. He and another architectural student, William Harris (d. 1823) went to Sicily to find evidence for colored architecture among ancient Greek monuments. They excavated temple C, the main temple, at Selinus (Seliunte). Both men were among the circle of the architect C. R. Cockerell, who had visited Sicily and made archaeological digs in the 1810's. Neither Angell nor Harris secured permission to excavate.

University of California, Santa Barbara medievalist architectural historian. Armi was the son of Edgar Leo Armi and Emita December (Armi). He graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University with a B. A. in 1967, continuing for his M.A. and Ph.D. After research as a Woodrow Wilson fellow, 1970-1972, his dissertation on Romanesque wall structure was accepted in 1973. Armi secured an appointment at the University of Chicago as an assistant professor in 1974.

Private art scholar and dealer of ancient Greek sculpture and portraits. Son of an affluent merchant in Mecklenburg, Arndt studied classical art with Johannes Overbeck in Leipzig and Enrico Brunn in Munich. His dissertation, written under Brunn, focused on Greek vase types. He never attempted a habilitationschrift. Brunn took Arndt for his assistant. Because of his financial independence, Arndt could afford to remain a private scholar.

Greek sculpture scholar and Yates Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of London, 1929-1948. Ashmole was the son of an auctioneer, William Ashmole, and Sarah Caroline Wharton Tiver (Ashmole). He was related to Elias Ashmole (1617-1692), the namesake of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, for which Ashmole would one day work. After attending Forest School (1903-1911) he was admitted to Hertford College, Oxford, in 1913 awarded the Essex Scholarship in Classics. However, Britain entered into World War I the following year and Ashmole joined the 11th Royal Fusiliers.

First British architectural historian to treat at medieval building in England as "architecture."

Deputy Keeper of the Department of Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1966-1979; Director of Christie's, 1979-1990. In 1980 he curated the "European Terracottas from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection" show for the National Gallery of Art in Washgington, D. C. He delivered the William D. Finlay Lecture at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2001.

German specialist in Asian art history, including East Asian, Southeast Asian, and Indian art and sculpture. Bachhofer began his studies in 1916 before a tour of service as a soldier in the First World War. He returned to his studies in 1918 in Munich studying art  history (under Heinrich Wölfflin, archaeology, philosophy and ethnography of Asia under Lucian Scherman (1864-1946). He completed a dissertation on Japanese woodcuts under these men (whom it is unclear).

Medievalist architectural historian whose influential book on architectural type significance and reception influenced post-war generation of medievalists. Bandmann grew up in Essen. He studied art history at the University in Cologne, inspired by the modern art which had been at the Folkwang Museum there until purged by the Nazis in 1933. Bandmann's dissertation written under Hans Kauffmann in 1942 focused on the abbey church of Essen-Werden.

Maverick architectural theorist and historian; modernism and pop-culture revisionist. Banham's parents were Percy Banham, a gas engineer, and Violet Reyner (Banham). The younger Banham was educated at King Edward VI School, Norwich, UK. Too young to join the military during World War II, he worked as an engine fitter at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Banham entered the Courtauld Institute of London University in 1945 to study art history. He married Mary Mullett the following year.

Documentary architectural historian

Architectural historian and Italianist.

Byzantinist and curator in the Department of Architecture and Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum 1948-1979. At age two Beckwith's mother died and his father, John Frederick Beckwith, abandoned him. His father lived anonymously in London's East end only discovered by Beckwith in his father's final years. Beckwith was raised by his paternal grandmother in Whitby, North Yorkshire, until she died in Beckwith's teens. Since Beckwith was Roman Catholic, he qualified for and was awarded a scholarship at Ampleforth College, a private Catholic boarding school also in Yorkshire.

Architectural social-art theorist and historian. Behne was the son of architect Carl Behne. At age one, his family moved to Berlin where he grew up in the Centralviehhof district. After graduation from the local Gymnasium, he attended the Hochschule in Berlin-Charlottenburg intending on a career in architecture. In 1907 he switch to art history, studying at the Friedrich-Wilhelm Universität. After research in Italy in 1911, he completed his dissertation (granted in 1913), Der Inkrustationsstil in der Toskana (The Incrusted Style of Tuscany).

Americanist art historian and architect. Belknap came to art history comparatively late in his career. His father, of the same name (1873-1943), was a vice president of Bankers Trust. His mother was Rey Sealy Hutchings Belknap (1885-1960). Belknap graduated magna cum laude at St. Paul's School, Concord, NH, in 1916 and attended Harvard University. Although his college years were interrupted by war service, he nevertheless graduated with his class in 1920. Following his father's profession, he worked in various finance and investment firms in New York and London until 1928.

Curator of the Luxembourg Museum and first director of the Musée Rodin.

Architectural historian and Director of Germanischen Nationalmuseums (Germanic Museum) in Nuremberg. Bezold studied architecture and art history at the technical college (Technische Hochschule) of Munich between 1868-73. In 1873 he secured a job as architect and technical assistant, and later on as planning engineer, at the Bavarian railroad. Between 1887-94 he lectured as a privatdozent at the Hochschule, and together with Berthold Riehl, worked on the inventory of art monuments in Bavaria.

historian of Czech art; architecture

Architect and architectural historian; published the important early survey of British architecture, The History of Renaissance Architecture in England, 1500-1800 (1897). Blomfield's father was Reverend George John Blomfield (d. 1900), vicar of Dartford, and his mother, Isabella Blomfield. His parents were distant cousins. After attending Haileybury College he entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1875, graduating in 1879. With a talent for art, Blomfield initially considered becoming a sculptor.