Robert Chester Smith

Robert Chester Smith
Photo of the interior of the Igreja de Nossa Senhora de Jesus [pt] by Robert Chester Smith, early 1960s.
Born	(1912-02-26)February 26, 1912 Cranford, New Jersey, USA
Died	1975
Nationality	American
Occupation	Art historian
Notable work	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.[1]

Life and work

Robert Smith was born on February 26, 1912, in Cranford, New Jersey.[1]

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.[2]

Robert Chester Smith in 1915 at 3 or 4 years of age.

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.[3] 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.[4]

In 1969 he was awarded the title of Professor Honoris Causa by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, on the recommendation of the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro [pt].[5]

In his will, he bequeathed his collection of documents and photographs to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.[1] 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.[6]

Robert Smith passed away in 1975.[1][2]

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

1. "Robert C. Smith: um norte-americano no Barroco de Portugal e do Brasil". gulbenkian.pt (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
2. "Smith, Robert C[hester]". dictionaryofarthistorians.org. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
3. "Athenaeum Literary Award previous winners (1949–present)". www.philaathenaeum.org. Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
4. "A Talha em Portugal". www.biblarte.gulbenkian.pt. Archived from the original on 21 January 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
5. "Professor Honoris Causa List of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro" (PDF). consuni.ufrj.br. 31 December 2023. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
6. "The DAS awards". www.decartssociety.org. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2024.

External links

• Robert Chester Smith in Dictionary of Art Historians