Curator of paintings at the Louvre Museum, 1951-1965; historian of 19^th century French art. Bazin was the son of Charles Bazin and Jeanne Laurence Mounier-Pouthot (Bazin). He studied art history at the Sorbonne with both Henri Focillon and Émile Mâle, where he reached the baccalaureate and licentiate levels. After completing his studies at the Sorbonne, Bazin received a diploma in museology from the école du Louvre. In 1928, he joined the department of drawings at the école des Beaux Arts in Paris.

Critic and historian of French and Italian art; chair in the history of art at the Collège de France (1878); first editor of the Gazette des beaux-arts. Originally trained as an engraver, Blanc began submitting journal articles to Bons Sens and Le Progrès in 1836. Throughout his career, he was politically active, advocating increased government support for the arts. In 1848, Blanc was appointed head of the Bureau des Beaux-Arts.

UCLA art history professor, 1956-1975; founding director of Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts; Americanist. Bloch was the son of Leonard Bloch and Rose von Auspitz (Bloch). He graduated from New York University with a B.F.A., intent on becoming an artist, in 1939. After a short stint at Harvard University for graduate study in 1940, he returned to NYU and the Institute of Fine Arts, where his A.M. was granted in 1942.

Historian of French and Italian art; Warburg Institute professor; director of the Courtauld Institute; Soviet spy. Blunt was born to minor privilege, his father, Arthur Stanley Vaughan Blunt (1870-1929), the chaplain to the British Embassy in Paris. His mother was Hilda Master Blunt (1880-1969). From early on, he gained an appreciation for French art and architecture. Like his brothers would, Blunt received a scholarship to Marlborough College. His first position, upon graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1930, was as art critic for the (London) Spectator.

Columbia University anthropologist who wrote an early text on indigenous art forms. Boas was the son of Meier Boas and Sophie Meyer (Boas). He attended Bonn, Heidelberg, and Kiel universities studying physics, mathematics, and geography, the latter under the distinguished Theobald Fischer. Boas obtained his doctorate in physics at the University of Kiel in 1881. A non-religious Jew, he was fascinated by the theories of geographical determinism in Europe at the time.

Philosopher and historian of ideas scholar; wrote early social histories of art. Boas was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the fifth of seven children of Herman Boas and Sarah Eisenberg (Boas). He attended Classical High School in Providence, RI, where his early interest in Greek and Latin grew. After graduation, Boas studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design under Henry Hunt Clark (b. 1875) and transferred to study English at Brown University, where he completed his B.A. and M.A. in 1913. He studied under the philosopher Josiah Royce (1855-1916) and received his second M.A.

Historian of 18th and 19th century French painting. Brookner was born to Newson Bruckner, a Polish immigrant, and Maude Schiska (Bruckner), a British singer whose grandfather was originally from Warsaw, Poland.  Fearful of the German-sounding last name, her mother changed their family name to Brookner as World War II began. Although secular Jews, the Brookners took in Jewish refugees fleeing the Germans during the 1930s and World War II.  Brookner attended a private school, the James Allen's Girls' School.

Art critic, novelist, journalist, and essayist. Du Bois was born to African-American couple Alfred Du Bois (c. 1835-c.1906), a barber born in Haiti, and Mary Silvina Burghardt (Du Bois) (c. 1831-1885) in Massachusetts. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Fisk University in 1888, Du Bois continued his studies at Harvard College, enrolling as a junior and receiving his second bachelor's degree in 1890, followed by his MA in 1891 and Ph.D. in 1895. His thesis was on the African Slave Trade in the United States.

Critic and self-taught historian of French and Italian art. Faure was trained as a surgeon and spent his early years as a medical doctor, serving as a medical officer in the First World War. He received his first job in the art world from the writer Émile Zola (1840-1902) who secured Faure's appointment as editor of L'Aurore, the paper in which Zola published his article "J'Accuse". Faure's 1904 pamphlet on Velasquez led him to establish an adult school in 1905, where he delivered a series of lectures entitled L'Histoire de l'art.

Writer, painter, museum director, and historian of Russian art and architecture. Grabar studied at the Academy of Arts at the University of St. Petersburg in 1894, and moved to Munich two years later. As an art student, he was affiliated with the Jugendstil movement, but returned to St. Petersburg in 1901. In 1913, he was appointed professor at the Academy of Arts and Director of the Tret'yakov Gallery in Moscow. Grabar supervised the restoration of Russian architecture and painting, publishing several articles on Russian art.

Administrator and historian of tapestries and 17th and 18th century French art. Guiffrey studied law and paleography. In 1866, he was appointed Keeper of the Archives Nationale, where he worked until 1893. While working at the Archives, Guiffrey became the editor of the publications of the Société de l'Art Francais, renaiming them Nouvelles archives de l'art francais. He contributed articles on a wide range of topics to dozens of scholarly journals, including the Gazette des beaux-arts and the Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires.

Theorist, critic, and historian of French Symbolism. Kahn studied at the école des Chartres, and the école des Langues Orientales, and began writing poetry in 1879. After serving in the French military from 1880-1884, he moved to Paris and joined the Parisian literary scene. In 1886, Kahn discussed his theories on Symbolism in an article entitled "Résponse des Symbolistes," where he called upon writers and artists to represent their observations of the world through symbols.

Philosopher, journalist, and scholar of African-American art. Alain Locke was born to an African-American couple, Pliny and Mary Hawkins Locke in Philadelphia, Locke was raised in Philadelphia, a popular center for the abolitionists during the Civil War. After his father died in 1891, Locke’s mother focused on developing her son’s intellectual and cultural curiosity. In 1907, Locke received his B.A. in philosophy and literature at Harvard College.

Archaeologist and historian of classical and ancient Spanish art. Alinari came from a prominent Spanish family, receiving most of his education in Madrid. He was hired as an assistant in the archives department of Madrid's Museo Arqueologico. After being appointed head of the department in 1884, Alinari began cataloguing objects in preparation for the construction of a room in the museum dedicated to the display of ancient Spanish art. As an expert in antiquities, his knowledge and scholarship were in high demand.

Historian of Roman sculpture and the paintings of Raphael, also painter. Meyer began studying painting in Switzerland under the tutelage of Johann Koella and Johann Caspar Füssli. He traveled to Italy to study Roman sculpture in 1784, where he also dedicated himself to studying the paintings of Raphael. Meyer met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1787, who convinced him to move to Weimar to serve as his artistic advisor.

Art dealer, museum curator, and historian of medieval and Renaissance art. Molinier began his career at Ecole des Chartres, where he studied for three years. His brother, Auguste, was a well-known medievalist, and encouraged Emile to pursue art historical scholarship. He was hired to work at the Bibliotheque Nationale for one year before accepting a position at the Louvre in the Département des Objets. In 1886, Molinier published Les Plaquettes, demonstrating his interest in the Italian Renaissance.

Archaeologist, epigrapher, and historian of ancient Christian and Islamic architecture. Monneret de Villiard began his career as an architect, later becoming an instructor of medieval architecture at the Politenico in Milan. His interest in archaeology led him to North Africa, where he studied Coptic art and its Greek and Egyptian origins. In 1923, Monneret de Villard completed a monograph on the Aswan, an Islamic necropolis. He was a major contributor to the scholarship on the Nubian region during the medieval period, leading several archaeological excavations in Addis Ababa.

Painter, instructor, and historian of Venezuelan art. Monsanto studied at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Caracas under Emilio Mauri and Antonio Herrera Toro. He belonged to several artistic circles, developing friendships with Nicolas Ferdinandov, Emilio Boggio, and Samys Mutzner. Monsanto co-founded the group Circulo de Bellas Artes with fellow painters Leoncio Martinez and Manuel Cabre. He ended his career as a painter in 1921, devoting himself to studying art history.

Russian writer, architect and architectural historian. From 1806-1823, Montferrand studied architecture at the école de Speciale in Paris. After completing his studies, he worked for Charles Percier and Pierre François Leonard Fontaine, who were Napoleon's architects. In 1814, Montferrand moved to St. Petersburg to accept the position of court architect. He worked with Karl Rossi to redesign St. Petersburg, building structures in the classical style, including St. Isaac's Cathedral (1818-58), and the Alexander Column (1829-34), which is the world's tallest column.

Collector and historian of antiques and illuminated manuscripts. After serving in the military, de Montmercy returned to civilian life in 1515. As a wealthy nobleman, he used inheritance money to purchase several Ch- teaus, which housed his art collection. In 1537, he rebuilt a Ch- teau at Ecouen, where he kept important sculptures of Italian artists, including Michaelangelo's Slaves. De Montmercy's financial support helped with the restoration of the antique remains from the Languedoc region.

Dealer and historian of Italian and Old Master paintings. Mündler studied languages at Munich and Erlangen Universities. He decided to move to Paris to become an art dealer in 1835, and developed close friendships with prominent members of the European art community of the 1840's, including Giovanni Morelli, Emmanuel Sano, and Ralph Nicholson Wornum.

Historian of Venetian architecture, painting, and drawing. A student of Giuseppe Fiocco, Muraro received his degree from the University of Padua in 1937, and later studied at the Scuola Archaeological Italiana in Athens, and the Scuola e Filologica delle Venezie. At the end of World War II, Murano dedicated himself to the preservation of Venetian architecture, organizing exhibitions that highlighted the Renaissance villas in the Veneto.

Book dealer and architectural historian. Nagler earned his doctorate from the Universität Erlangen in 1829. Through his research at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, he completed his first major scholarly reference publication, Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon (1835-52). It took Nagler seventeen years, scrupulously delivering a manuscript every month to his printer, E.A. Fleischmann, in Munich. Comprehensive art dictionaries and encyclopedias were only then being written. Scholars had mixed feelings about such works.

Museum curator and historian of African, Native American, and Oceanic art. Newton was born to English parents on a rubber plantation in Malaysia. Before moving into museum work in the United States in 1956, he worked for the BBC as a journalist and editor. As a curator for the Museum of Primitive Art, Newton designed over sixty-four exhibitions for the museum. His ability to create innovative exhibition designs while remaining sensitive to the problems of displaying non-Western art attracted praise from both art historians and the public.

Museum curator and historian of Japanese painting. After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1880, Okakura became a member of the Ministry of Education. His interests later turned to art education, allowing him to travel to Europe and America to do research on art education methods. Upon his return to Japan, Okakura was appointed head of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. His leadership encouraged artists to develop a new style of painting that combined the conventional style of the Japanese painting technique Nihonga with Western realism.