Andrew Martindale

Andrew Henry Robert Martindale (1932–1995) was Professor of Visual Art at the University of East Anglia at the time of his sudden death at age 62. One of the pioneers in the teaching of art history as an academic discipline and a founding member of the Association of Art Historians, he was also a highly respected medieval scholar specialising in the late Gothic and early Renaissance periods with a number of publications to his name. His 1972 book, The Rise of the Artist, is much vaunted, often cited, and has been described as 'a brilliant study of the hierarchies within the medieval patronage system'.

Early life Andrew Martindale was born in Bombay on 19 December 1932, the son of Henry Martindale, a Church of England cleric who was Archdeacon of Bombay from 1927 to 1933, and Augusta Martindale. He attended the choir school of Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford, then Westminster School before going on to read for a degree in history at New College, Oxford where he was friends with Peter Brown. His postgraduate qualification from the Courtauld Institute of Art, where he studied or worked alongside leading figures in the art history world, Anthony Blunt, George Zarnecki, Peter Kidson, Brian Sewell and Christopher Hohler, led to a lifelong career as an art historian and academic. As John Onians said of his colleague in the obituary for The Independent 'Martindale was an exemplary figure, whose active role was significant in setting standards and determining direction' in establishing and popularising the discipline of study in the history of art. In his role as University Grants Commission's adviser on art history, he was an avid spokesperson for the subject and is praised for his handling of the crucial first Research Assessment exercises. a global department. He was appointed senior lecturer in 1965, dean in 1971 and succeeded Lasko as Professor of Visual Art in 1974. to house the collection of over 300 20thc. artworks and ethnographic objects donated to the university in 1973 by Sir Robert Sainsbury and Lady Lisa Sainsbury together with an endowment for the building which was designed by Norman Foster. The building, that also housed the School of World Art Studies and Museology, was opened in 1978 to critical acclaim and was later expanded to include an extension also funded by the Sainsburys. It became a Grade II listed building in 2012.

Manuscripts and photographs from the collection of Andrew Martindale are held in UEA's Photographic Collection in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and, while he was at the Courtauld, Martindale also contributed photographs to the Conway Library whose archive of architectural images is in the process of being digitised.

Public work and honours As a founder member of the Association of Art Historians, Martindale supported its annual conferences and was primarily responsible for conceiving its journal, Art History, first published in 1978. He served for nearly thirty years on the Council for the Care of Churches as well as on the University Grants Committee and the University Faculty Committee. He was also an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

When Professor George Henderson, a founder member of the steering committee of the Harlaxton Medieval Symposium, an annual event held at Harlaxton Manor inaugurated by Pamela Tudor-Craig in 1984, retired to Scotland, Professor Martindale took over his position. The Symposium in the year of his tragic death was to be convened by him and the papers presented that year became a Festschrift in his honour; England and the Continent in the Middle Ages : studies in memory of Andrew Martindale. In the year of his death he was also president of the Ecclesiastical History Society.

In Martindale's obituary for The Man and Other Families, the writer observed how fitting it was 'that his ashes now lie in the cloister of Norwich Cathedral where he had chaired the Fabric Advisory committee since 1991'.

Following Professor Martindale's death, friends and colleagues contributed to a memorial fund which has been used to fund the annual Martindale lecture series.

Personal life In 1959 Andrew Martindale married Jane Brooke, Andrew was a gifted pianist and played the harpsichord and piano all his life having acquired musical skills when he was a choir boy. He died on 29 May 1995 in Norwich from a brain tumour after a short illness. and contributed to the entry 'Western Sculpture' in Encyclopædia Britannica.