Earlier British writer, authored a history of art and artists' biography, 1685. Aglionby traveled the continent and recorded his recollections on art, among other topics. In 1685, Aglionby published his Painting Illustrated in Three Dialogues based heavily on the Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti moderni by Giovanni Pietro Bellori published in 1672. Aglionby, noted that in the Netherlands, paintings were common everywhere, even in the homes of tradesmen.

Wrote memoirs of artists; first published in 1905.

Co-editor of the magisterial dictionary of artists, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. Becker studied art history in Bonn and in Leipzig as the assistant to August Schmarsow. He and Ulrich Thieme began work on a comprehensive dictionary of artists, architects and decorators in 1898. The first volume appeared in 1907. Becker withdrew from the project in 1910 because of ill health.

Artist, author and Professor of the History and Theory of Art at the University of Sussex from 1967 to 1975. Son of Clive Bell and nephew of Virginia Woolf. His papers are housed at the University of Sussex.

Writer, Byzantinist and Matisse scholar. Duthuit's father was a Parisian architect and his mother from landowning family in Auvergne. Both parents succumbed to tuberculosis when Duthuit was twelve and he was sent to live with an indifferent and brutally strict uncle. He learned to live by his wits, developing an engaging personality. As a school he discovered the art of Matisse in the Salon des Indépendents of 1907.

Art historian and collector; Gabburri compiled after 1719 an ambitious encyclopedic dictionary of artists' lives, ranging from the primitives to his contemporaries, called the Vite, it remains in manuscript.

Art critic and novelist; first biographer of Monet and early historian of Impressionism. Geffroy's parents moved to Paris from Morlaix, Brittany the year before his birth. He attended the Collège Chaptal, Paris between 1868-1870. At his father's death in 1870, he left school without earning his lycée degree to work in a bank. Geffroy met Louis-Nicolas Ménard (1822-1901), a hellenist, who piqued an interest in art. With his help, Geffroy founded a journal, Paris-Revue, which lasted a year.

Sculptor and architect; his Book II of his memoirs forms an important account of 14th-century artists. Ghibert's parents were Cione Paltami Ghiberti (d. 1406), somewhat of a n'er-do-well, and Mona Fiore. Shortly after his birth his mother left Cione to live with the goldsmith Bartolo di Michele (d 1422), known as Bartoluccio, marring him after Cione's death. Ghiberti learned goldsmithing from Bartoluccio. He left Florence in 1400 along with another artist to serve the ruling Malatesta of Pesaro.

First scholar of classical pottery to write a major study of them; influential teacher to a generation of classicists and art historians; Mozart biographer. Jahn was born to a wealthy family; his father was a successful lawyer in Kiel. The younger Jahn attended the Schulpforte before the university at Kiel where his professors included Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch (1790-1861), under whom he eventually wrote his dissertation and Joannes Classen (1805-1891).

Artist, writer and art book author. Julian was born Philippe Simounet. His grandfather was the historian Camille Jullian (1859-1933) and his father André Simounet, a military officer. At age eight he took his mother's family name of Jullian. His whole life, he was part of the Society world which he both criticized and belonged. Jullian studied at the Sorbonne, but lacked the discipline to finish. His first published book, Dictionnaire du snobisme appeared in the same year as its English translation, the Snob Spotter's Guide in 1958.

Writer and historian of Italian artists and painting. Orlandi was a member of the Carmelite order and lived at the Bolognese convent of San Martino, where he collected paintings and prints. Orlandi's art historical research earned him membership in the Bolognese Accademia Clementina. In 1704, he published the Abecedario pittorico, the first collection of artists biographies organized alphabetically in Italian. The book's second edition was published in 1719.

Novelist and author of a biography of Salvator Rosa. Owenson was named for her paternal grandmother, Sydney Crofton Bell, disowned by her family after eloping with a farmer. Owenson's father, Robert MacOwen (1744 - 1812), an actor, Anglicized his name to Owenson and married Jane Hill (d.1789). Their daughter, Sydney Owenson, learned narrative, language, folklore, and music from her actor father. After her mother died in 1789, she and her younger sister were sent to Madame Terson's boarding school in Dublin, a Huguenot (Protestant) academy, and Mrs. Anderson's finishing school.

Vasari emulator; lively, anecdotal biographies of artists. Some of his material was borrowed from the Le vite de' pittori, scultori & architetti, 1642, of Giovanni Baglione. Passeri's work was edited and published by Jacob Hess in the 1920s and 1930s..

Novelist; first biographer of an art historian and one of the first art historians to write a monograph on Jan van Eyck. She was born in Danzig, Prussia which is present-day Gdańsk, Poland. Schopenhauer was born Johanna Henrietta Trosiener into a wealthy Danzig merchant family. Her father was Christian Heinrich Trosiener (b. 1730), a Danzig city councilor (senator) and her mother Elizabeth Lehmann (Trosiener). In an arranged marriage of 1785 Trosiener was married to a wealthy merchant friend of her father, Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer, she 18 and he 37.

Author of a popular renaissance history and an influential Michelangelo biography; early gay studies writer. Symonds was the son of John Addington Symonds, M.D., (1807-1871) a socially prominent British physician and Harriet Sykes (1808/9-1844). After his mother's death he was raised by a strict aunt. His father instilled in him a love for Greek and Italian art, who himself studied these humanities two hours daily. Symonds entered the Harrow School in 1854, where his homosexual awakening led to a relationship with a fellow student, Willie Dyer, in 1858.

Editor of volumes 3-15 of the magisterial dictionary of artists, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. Thieme studied art history in Leipzig, receiving his degree in 1892 under Anton Springer with a dissertation on the work of Hans Schäufelein. He entered the Berlin Gemäldegalerie under Wilhelm Bode. In 1898 he began work on a comprehensive dictionary of artists, architects and decorators enjoinging the assistance of Felix Becker. The two were inspired by the work of G. K.

Author of influential 16th-century artists' biographies; painter, poet, and playwright. His parents, Cornelis van Mander and Johanna van der Beke, belonged to the rural nobility. Van Mander attended the Latin school in Tielt, along with his elder brother, Cornelis. They both continued their education with a French schoolmaster in Ghent. In 1566-1567, Van Mander studied with the painter and poet Lucas d'Heere (1534-1584) in the same city and subsequently, in 1568-69, with the painter Pieter Vlerick (1539-1581) in Kortrijk and Doornik.

Writer of painters' biographies; painter; playwright; translator; journalist. Weyerman's parents, Hendrick Weyermans (d. 1695) and Elisabeth Sommerel (d. 1723), both served in the military, when their son Jacob was born. They moved to Den Bosch before settling in Breda in 1680. Weyerman spent his first 18 years in Breda, where he visited the so-called "Latin School" and trained as a painter. Among his masters was Ferdinand van Kessel (1648-1702).

Assisted in editing the magisterial dictionary of artists, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler.