British scholar, known for establishing, with Georg Gronau, the date for Titian's birth.

Private scholar; editorial Secretary and Assistant Editor of the The Burlington Magazine, 1938-1950. Hoffmann was the daughter of the writer and Czech diplomat Camill (or Kamil) Hoffmann (1878-144) and his wife, Irma Oplatka (Hoffmann) (1883-1944). Irma’s father was an art writer and a friend of the Austrian Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka. After attending elementary school in the suburban town of Hellerau bei Dresden, she graduated from the Auguste Victoria Girls' School in Berlin in 1928.

Historian of modern art and art critic. Read was the eldest of three sons born to a Yorkshire, England, farmer. Orphaned early, he was sent to Crossley's School, Halifax. At age 16 he worked as a bank clerk, studying in the evenings for entrance to Leeds University. He entered Leeds in 1912 where he initially studied economics and law. At Leeds he came in contact with the modern art collection of its president, Michael Sadler. After graduation, he served in the army in World War I (1915-1918) with distinction, rising to the rank of captain and engaging in battles in Belgium and France.