George Zarnecki

George Zarnecki , CBE, FBA, FSA (12 September 1915 – 8 September 2008) was a Polish Professor of the History of Art. He was a scholar of Medieval art and English Romanesque sculpture, an area of study in which he did pioneering research. From 1961 to 1974 he was a deputy director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

Early life Zarnecki was born in Stara Osota near Chyhyryn, then in the Russian Empire. His parents were Polish speaking, his father was a Polish convert from Judaism and his mother was Russian Catholic.Zarnecki attended Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, he attained his MA in 1938 and, from 1936 to 1939, was a junior assistant at the University's Institute of Art History. he spent two years as a prisoner of War. He narrowly avoided being sent to a concentration camp as a suspected Jew. The fact he was not circumcised, and was wearing a crucifix his mother had given him, saved him from that fate. Whilst at the Courtauld he studied for his PhD, under the supervision of Fritz Saxl director of the Warburg Institute, University of London. He was awarded his PhD in 1950, his thesis had been on the subject of 'Regional Schools in English Sculpture in the 12th century'. In 1949 Zarnecki was promoted to librarian of the Courtauld's Conway library, taking charge of its collection of photographs of sculpture and architecture. He helped organise, and embarked on, expeditions around Europe to build up the library's photographic holdings. In 1959, after serving 10 years as the Conway librarian, Zarnecki was appointed to the Courtauld's academic staff as a Reader. During the academic year 1960 to 61 he held the position of Oxford University's Slade Professor of Fine Art. and was appointed to the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England on 1 January 1972, and was later re-appointed for a further five years on 1 January 1979. He remained deputy director at the Courtauld for 13 years, until 1974, when Blunt retired as director.

Personal life Zarnecki was married to Anne Leslie Frith in 1945. They first met in 1944 during an air raid when they both took shelter together in Regent's Park tube station. She claimed to be impressed by his ostentatious uniform, thinking that he must be a General. The marriage produced a son, the space scientist John Zarnecki, and a daughter.

Honours and memberships Zarnecki received various honours and awards: 1966, member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey 1968, Fellow of the British Academy Fellow, and former vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries of London 1970, Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1978, awarded the Gold Badge of the Polish Order of Merit 1982, Emeritus professor, University of London 1986, Honorary Fellow of the Courtauld Institute. 1992, foreign member of the Polish Academy of Learning 1994, foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Selected bibliography "Regional Schools of English Sculpture in the Twelfth Century: the Southern School and the Herefordshire School" (PhD thesis, Courtauld Institute of Art, 1950) [the digitised version does not contain plates] English Romanesque Sculpture 1066 – 1140 (1951) English Romanesque Sculpture 1140 – 1210 (1953) English Romanesque Lead Sculpture (1957) 1066 and Architectural Sculpture (1966) Romanesque Art (1971) Art of the Medieval World (1975) Cathedrals and Monastic Buildings of the British Isles (1976) Studies in Romanesque Sculpture (1979) English Romanesque Art 1066 – 1200 (1984) Further Studies in Romanesque Sculpture (1992)