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Pope-Hennessy (John) Papers
990023
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Title: John Pope-Hennessy papers
Date (inclusive): 1617-1995, bulk
1930-1995
Number: 990023
Creator/Collector:
Pope-Hennessy, John Wyndham,
Sir, 1913-1994
Physical Description:
116 Linear Feet
(220 boxes, 2 flatfile folders)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The papers document John
Pope-Hennessy's professional activities as a historian of Italian Renaissance art, museum
director, curator, and teacher. The archive contains museum files, correspondence, study
photographs, and manuscripts of his scholarly work. Also included are papers from his
family, namely his parents, Ladislas and Una Pope-Hennessy and his brother, James
Pope-Hennessy. The family papers include letters, clippings, and manuscripts of published
and unpublished works.
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Language: Collection material is in
English .
Biographical / Historical Note
Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (1913-1994) was a British art historian, museum director,
curator, and an expert on Italian Renaissance sculpture and painting. He served as director
of both the Victoria and Albert Museum (1967-1973) and the British Museum (1974-1976). In
1977, he became Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and professor of art history at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. Sienese
Quattrocento painting was Pope-Hennessy's first field of research and was marked by his
monograph on the painter Giovanni di Paolo. However, his greatest contribution to the
history of art is perhaps his research and writing on Italian sculpture, which profited from
his decades-long work with the rich sculpture collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
His three-volume
Introduction to Italian Sculpture has
remained an important reference work and was followed by studies on Donatello, bronze
statuettes, and Italian plaquettes.
Pope-Hennessy was born in Belgravia, London into an Irish Catholic family. His father,
Major-General Ladislas Herbert Richard Pope-Hennessy (1875-1942) was a member of the British
Liberal Party. His mother, Dame Una (née Birch) Pope-Hennessy (1876-1949), was a writer,
historian and biographer, whose published works include
Early Chinese
Jades
(1923) and
Charles Dickens (1945). Both were
active supporters of the Irish Dominion. Pope-Hennessy's younger brother, James
Pope-Hennessy (1916-1974), was also a biographer, historian and author known for works such
as
Queen Mary (1959),
Sins of the
Fathers: A Study of the Atlantic Slave Traders, 1441-1807
(1967), and
Anthony Trollope (1971). Moreover, Pope-Hennessy's namesake and
grandfather, Sir John Pope-Hennessy (1834-1891), who was born in Cork, Ireland, became
governor of several British crown colonies, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Hong Kong, and
Mauritius. Known for being a progressive and liberal governor, streets were named after Sir
John and a statue of him was built in Mauritius.
The younger John Pope-Hennessy lived as a child in Washington, D.C. where his father served
as a military attaché at the British Embassy. He was educated at Downside Abbey (Somerset)
and read history at Balliol College, Oxford. Although he received no formal training in art
history, according to
John Pope-Hennessy: A Bibliography,
compiled by Everett Fahy, his interest in art history began as a young boy in 1926, when he
purchased Crowe and Cavalcaselle's book on North Italian painting. While at Balliol College,
he was introduced to Kenneth Clark and attended Clark's lectures at the Ashmolean. In
1935-1936, Pope-Hennessy traveled extensively throughout Europe, visiting museums, private
collections, and setting out to see all the known works by the Sienese painter Giovanni di
Paolo, on whom he was writing a monograph. In 1938, he joined the staff of the Victoria and
Albert Museum, initiating a long career at the museum, where he worked first in the
Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, then in the Department of Sculpture,
before assuming the directorship of the museum from 1967 to 1973. Knighted in 1971,
Pope-Hennessy directed the British Museum from 1974 to 1976. His early resignation from the
British Museum and his departure from England for Tuscany and then New York has been
attributed in part to his brother's tragic death in 1974. In 1977, he accepted an invitation
to join the staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
While working at the Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, and New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, Pope-Hennessy continued to research
and publish works, including
Sienese Quattrocento Painting
(1947),
Fra Angelico (1952),
The
Portrait in the Renaissance
(1966),
Essays on Italian
Sculpture
(1968),
Luca della Robbia (1980),
Cellini (1985), and
Donatello
(1993).
In 1986, he retired to Florence where he was made an honorary citizen. There he wrote an
autobiography of his life and career titled
Learning to Look
(1991). He died in 1994 and is buried in the Cimitero Evangelico degli Allori in Galluzzo, a
suburb of Florence. His art collection from his home in Florence was sold at Christie's, New
York, in 1996.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Reproductions
and Permissions
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John Pope-Hennessy papers, 1617-1995, bulk 1930-1995, The Getty Research Institute, Los
Angeles, Accession no. 990023
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa990023
Acquired in 1999.
The John Pope-Hennessy papers were initially rehoused by the Registrar's Office upon
receipt of the archive in 1999 with a preliminary box list. From 2013-2014, Sheila Prospero
further processed the papers with a new arrangement under the supervision of Andra
Darlington.
James Pope-Hennessy papers and manuscripts, Approximately 1880s-1975, Getty Research
Institute, Accession no. 2020.M.5.
15 monographs and 8 serials were transferred to the library. These publications may be
found by searching the
Library Catalog
for the John Pope-Hennessy Collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The John Pope-Hennessy papers document Pope-Hennessy's curatorial and administrative work,
his scholarly research as an expert on Italian Renaissance sculpture and painting, and his
family background. The bulk of the archive consists of Pope-Hennessy's research materials,
manuscripts of published and unpublished works, correspondence, and museum files related to
his work at the Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and
New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. Papers from the Pope-Hennessy family include
correspondence, manuscripts, articles, of Pope-Hennessys' parents, Ladislas and Una, and of
his brother, James.
Series I consists of Pope-Hennessy's personal and professional correspondence. Included is
correspondence with Pope-Hennessy's parents and his brother, letters from art historians
Everett Fahy, Bernard Berenson, essayist and critic Logan Pearsall Smith, and music critic
Andrew Porter. The series informs Pope-Hennessy's intellectual development, the influence of
his family on his scholarly interests, and his opinions on lectures, conferences, and
colleagues. Congratulatory correspondence for his museum appointments and knighthood and
condolence letters after his brother James's death shed light on important events in
Pope-Hennessy's life.
Series II documents Pope-Hennessy's scholarly work. Included in this series are manuscripts
of publications such as
Cellini (1985) and
Donatello (1993) and unpublished works such as "Matteo di
Giovanni" and "Iconography of Sir Walter Scott." The bulk of the manuscript files are drafts
for his autobiography,
Learning to Look (1991). A large
portion of this series contains drafts of lectures and essays, some of which were worked
into his published and unpublished books. His eulogy for art historian Kenneth Clark's
memorial service can be found among his speeches and addresses. Also included are clippings
of his influential articles from 1932 to 1995, press clippings and reviews of his
publications.
Series III. Professional consultations consists of correspondence with art collectors,
dealers, institutions, and galleries who seek Pope-Hennessy's opinions regarding
attributions of artworks, states of conservation, and collecting. A portion of the
correspondence is illustrated with photographs, slides and transparencies of artwork.
Series IV. Museum files documents Pope-Hennessy's position as director of the Victoria and
Albert Museum from 1967 to 1973 and the British Museum from 1974 to 1976, and as
Consultative Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art. The series also contains teaching files from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York
University.
Series V. Study photographs, a large portion of the archive, contains Pope-Hennessy's
photographs, primarily of Italian sculpture and painting, German and Dutch paintings,
photographs of the works in the collections of Thyssen-Bornemisza and Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum, and photographs of drawings and paintings related to Pope-Hennessy's
publications on Raphael and Fra Angelico. The bulk of the photographs are black and white,
but also included are color prints, slides, transparencies, negatives, and Polaroids.
Personal papers from Pope-Hennessy's childhood and adult years can be found in Series VI.
Included are personal documents such as his birth certificate and passports from 1945 to
1995, yearly pocket agendas from 1946 to 1994, and papers and photographs related to his
personal art collection.
The Pope-Hennessy family papers in Series VII form a large portion of the archive and
document Pope-Hennessy's prominent family and its illustrious members, including
Pope-Hennessy's father, Ladislaus Herbert Richard, his mother, Dame Una Constance, his
brother, James, and his grandfather, Sir John Pope-Hennessy. The series contains
correspondence that reveals Ladislaus's political involvement with the Irish Dominion, the
extent of Una's scholarly influence on her two sons, James's travels and literary work, and
John's colonial service as governor. The series includes drafts of works by Una and James
Pope-Hennessy, including Una's
Charles Dickens (1945) and
"Lady Gregory and Yeats" (unpublished) and James's
Queen Mary
(1959) and
Sins of the Fathers: A Study of the Atlantic Slave
Traders, 1441-1807
(1967). The series also includes letters from family friends,
such as Bertrand Russell, Logan Pearsall Smith, and Cecil Beaton.
Arranged in seven series:
Series I. Correspondence, 1914-1994;
Series II. Writings
and notes, 1932-1995;
Series III. Professional consultations, 1944-1994;
Series IV. Museum
files, 1946-1987;
Series V. Study photographs, 1930-1994;
Series VI. Personal
papers, 1913-1995;
Series VII. Pope-Hennessy family papers, 1617-1995.
Pope-Hennessy, John, Sir,
1834-1891
Pope-Hennessy, John Wyndham, Sir,
1913-1994
Pope-Hennessy, Ladislas Herbert Richard,
1875-1942
Fahy, Everett
Pope-Hennessy, Una,
1876-1949
Pope-Hennessy, James
Porter, Andrew, 1928-2015
Smith, Logan Pearsall,
1865-1946
Mary, Queen, consort of George V, King of
Great Britain, 1867-1953
Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959
Clark, Kenneth, 1903-1983
Victoria and Albert Museum
British Museum
New York University. Institute
of Fine Arts
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York,
N.Y.)
Art, Renaissance -- Italy
Sculpture, Italian
Painting, Italian -- Italy -- Siena
Ireland -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Color negatives
Color prints (photographs)
Color slides
Color transparencies
Dye diffusion transfer prints
Gelatin silver prints
Photographs, Original
Ephemera
Pope-Hennessy, Ladislas Herbert
Richard, 1875-1942
Pope-Hennessy,
John, Sir, 1834-1891
Pope-Hennessy,
Una, 1876-1949
Pope-Hennessy, John Wyndham,
Sir, 1913-1994
Pope-Hennessy, James
Porter, Andrew,
1928-2015
Fahy, Everett