Robert Chester Smith

Robert Chester Smith (Cranford, 26 February 1912 – 1975) was an American art historian specialized in Portuguese art and Colonial Brazil art.

Life and work Robert Smith was born on February 26, 1912, in Cranford, New Jersey.

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. 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.

In 1969 he was awarded the title of Professor Honoris Causa by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, on the recommendation of the .

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

Robert Smith died in 1975.

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