Leader of modern museum conservation practices; historian of Italian art. Brandi graduated in with a law degree from the University of Siena in 1927, but his interests had moved to art so much that he wrote a thesis the following year at the University of Florence on the artists Rutilio Manetti, Francesco Vanni, and Ventura Salimbeni. In 1930 he was assigned to the Administration of Antiquities and the Fine Arts to assist the Inspector (Soprintendenza) of Monuments and Galleries of Siena.

Artist and art historian; collaborator with Joseph Archer Crowe on the first modern history of art to be written in English. Cavalcaselle studied studio painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. When his interests changed to art history, he moved to Milan and Florence to study renaissance art. In 1847 he met Joseph Archer Crowe, a British art historian in Italy. The following year, Cavalcaselle joined in the 1848 revolutions sweeping Europe. For his part in the Italian revolt, he was condemned to death and force to flee.

African-American artist, curator, and historian of African-American art. Driskell was the son of Baptist minister George Washington Driskell, and Mary Cloud Driskell. Driskell’s family heavily influenced his career in art, as his father, a painter of religious subjects, and his mother, a quilter, both influenced his choice of career, and his grandfather was a sculptor. Driskell grew up in western North Carolina, attending segregated schools.Though Driskell was awarded a $90 scholarship to Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, he chose to attend Howard University in Washington D.C.

Museum administrator and historian of Italian art. After receiving his degree from the Instituto di Studi Superiori in Florence, Poggi became the Director of the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. During his early years, his friends included Jean Jacques Dwelshauvers and Aby M. Warburg. When the Mona Lisa was stolen from Paris in 1911, he helped to arrange its return to France.

Influential Williams College professor of art history; founder of Williams' art museum. Weston graduated from Williams with a B.A. in 1896. He studied a year at the American School of Classical Studies, Rome, before being awarded his A. M. from Williams in 1898. Weston remained to Williams as a professor in the Romance Languages Department, beginning in 1900. He married a local woman, Ruth Sabin (1880-1951). In 1904 Weston was made assistant professor and began taking augmentary courses at Johns Hopkins University and Princeton.