Name Craig Smyth | ||
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Born July 28, 1915 New York, NY Occupation Renaissance art historian Died 2006, Englewood, New Jersey, United States Books Mannerism and Maniera | ||
Craig Hugh Smyth (1915-2006) was an American art historian who studied Renaissance art, with a special emphasis on the artist Bronzino. During World War II, he established the Allied Munich Central Collecting Point for Nazi-looted art, as part of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program.
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Biography
Smyth attended Princeton University, where he earned his BA (1938), MFA (1941), and PhD (1956), all in art history. He joined the naval reserve during World War II, and soon became part of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives division. As an MFAA officer, in 1945 he established the Allied collecting point in Munich. After the war, he led the first academic program in conservation in the United States at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University (1950-1973). He was also the director of Harvard University's Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti in Florence (1973-1985).