Robert Chester Smith
{{Short description|American art historian (1912–1975)}}
{{Infobox biography
| name = Robert Chester Smith
| image = Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Mercês, Lisboa, Portugal (3504156913).jpg
| caption = Photo of the interior of the {{ill|Igreja de Nossa Senhora de Jesus|pt}} by Robert Chester Smith, early 1960s.
| native_name_lang = en
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|02|26}}
| birth_place = Cranford, New Jersey, USA
| death_date = 1975
| nationality = American
| occupation = Art historian
| notable_works = The Art of Portugal (1968), A Talha em Portugal (1963)
| awards = Athenaeum Literary Award (1968)
}}
Robert Chester Smith (Cranford, 26 February 1912 – 1975) was an American art historian specialized in Portuguese art and Colonial Brazil art.{{Cite web |title=Robert C. Smith: um norte-americano no Barroco de Portugal e do Brasil |url=https://gulbenkian.pt/biblioteca-arte/read-watch-listen/robert-c-smith/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125193648/https://gulbenkian.pt/biblioteca-arte/read-watch-listen/robert-c-smith/ |archive-date=25 January 2024 |access-date=25 February 2024 |website=gulbenkian.pt |language=pt-pt}}
Life and work
Robert Smith was born on February 26, 1912, in Cranford, New Jersey.
Smith received his doctorate from Harvard University, where he presented a dissertation on the German architect living in Portugal João Frederico Ludovice in 1939. He joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 and taught at the institution's School of Fine Arts from 1956 until his death in 1975.{{Cite web |title=Smith, Robert C[hester] |url=http://dictionaryofarthistorians.org/smithr.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127071136/http://dictionaryofarthistorians.org/smithr.htm |archive-date=27 November 2010 |access-date=25 February 2024 |website=dictionaryofarthistorians.org |language=en}}
File:Robert Chester Smith 1915.jpg
His notable works include "The Art of Portugal" (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968), for which he won the Athenaeum Literary Award from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia.{{cite web |title=Athenaeum Literary Award previous winners (1949–present) |url=https://www.philaathenaeum.org/literary.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522052022/https://www.philaathenaeum.org/literary.html |archive-date=22 May 2011 |access-date=25 February 2024 |website=www.philaathenaeum.org |publisher=Athenaeum of Philadelphia |language=en}} In the 1960s he carried out an inventory of Talha Dourada in Portugal with a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. From this work, A Talha em Portugal was published in 1963.{{Cite web |title=A Talha em Portugal |url=http://www.biblarte.gulbenkian.pt/index.php?headline=58&visual=1&langId=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121184024/http://www.biblarte.gulbenkian.pt/index.php?headline=58&visual=1&langId=1 |archive-date=21 January 2011 |access-date=25 February 2024 |website=www.biblarte.gulbenkian.pt}}
In 1969 he was awarded the title of Professor Honoris Causa by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, on the recommendation of the {{ill|Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro|pt}}.{{Cite web |date=31 December 2023 |title=Professor Honoris Causa List of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro |url=https://consuni.ufrj.br/images/Titulos/PROF_HONORIS_CAUSA-DIVDADOS_31-12-2023.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ia600203.us.archive.org/3/items/prof-honoris-causa-divdados-31-12-2023/PROF_HONORIS_CAUSA-DIVDADOS_31-12-2023.pdf |archive-date=25 February 2024 |access-date=25 February 2024 |website=consuni.ufrj.br |page=12}}
In his will, he bequeathed his collection of documents and photographs to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The Robert C. Smith Award for researchers in the decorative arts was established in his honour by the Decorative Arts Society of the United States.{{Cite web |title=The DAS awards |url=https://www.decartssociety.org/awards_smith.1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318060510/http://www.decartssociety.org/awards_smith.1.html |archive-date=18 March 2015 |access-date=25 February 2024 |website=www.decartssociety.org}}
Articles
- Robert C. Smith. João Frederico Ludovice an Eighteenth Century Architect in Portugal. The Art Bulletin. Vol. 18, No. 3 (Sep., 1936), pp. 273–370
- Robert C. Smith. The colonial architecture of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The Art Bulletin. Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1939), pp. 110–159.
- Robert C. Smith. Jesuit buildings in Brazil. The Art Bulletin. Vol. 30, No. 3 (Sep., 1948), pp. 187–213.
- Robert C. Smith. Arquitetura civil do período colonial. Revista do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional, n. 17, p. 27-125, 1969
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101127071136/http://dictionaryofarthistorians.org/smithr.htm Robert Chester Smith] in Dictionary of Art Historians
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Category:American art historians