Farewell to Irving Lavin, art historian, great expert on Italian Baroque

Irving Lavin, a noted American art historian and specialist on the Italian Renaissance and Baroque, passed away in Princeton, New Jersey, last Feb. 3, at the age of ninety-one. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1927, he had first studied at Washington University in St. Louis, where he graduated in 1949, and then continued his studies, obtaining a first major in 1952 at New York University, and a second in 1953 at Harvard, before completing his Ph.D., also at Harvard, in 1955. Many were Lavin’s discoveries in the field of Baroque studies, including several previously unknown Bernini busts. His activity had continued until the last, since his most recent discovery, a bust-portrait of Prospero Farinacci published in spring 2018, is from 2018.

Until 1961, Lavin taught art history at Vassar College and then obtained a professorship at New York University, held until 1973, when he became a lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton: a successor to Erwin Panofsky, Lavin worked at IAS until 2001, the year of his retirement, following which he became professor emeritus at the Institute. Irving Lavin was known for his deep knowledge of Italian art and culture, the result of more than fifty years of study, which focused mainly in Rome. For his contributions to Italian art, Lavin was awarded the Daria Borghese Prize in 1981, was made an honorary member of the University of the Marblemakers in Rome as well as a foreign member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and an Academician of Honor at the Accademia Clementina in Bologna. He also received the Galileo Galilei International Prize from the University of Pisa in 2005.

“Irving exemplified the characteristics of a world-class scholar and humanist with his generosity, enthusiasm and curiosity, which spanned multiple disciplines,” said Robbert Dijkgraaf, mathematician and IAS director. “The Institute community, which Irving made his intellectual home for 45 years, has been enriched by his presence, his insights, and his dear friendship. He will be greatly missed here and around the world.”

The scholar was due to return to Rome in March, where he was scheduled to speak at a conference at the Caetani Foundation. His last article, titled The Silence of David by Gianlorenzo Bernini will be published posthumously in spring 2019 in the journal Artibus et Historiae. His books include publications on Bernini but also on other subjects, for example a book on Florence Cathedral in 1999 and one on the relationship between Caravaggio and Georges de la Tour in 2000.

Pictured: Irving Lavin (ph. Credit Cliff Moore)

Farewell to Irving Lavin, art historian, great expert on Italian Baroque

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.