Sidney Colvin

literary and art critic.

Biography

He was born at Norwood, London. A scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, he became a fellow of his college in 1868. In 1873 he was Slade professor of fine art, and was appointed in the next year to the directorship of the Fitzwilliam Museum.

In 1884 he moved to London on his appointment as keeper of prints and drawings in the British Museum. His chief publications are lives of Landor (1881) and Keats (1887), in the English Men of Letters series; the Edinburgh edition of R. L. Stevenson's works (1894-1897); editions of the letters of Keats (1887), and of the "Vailima Letters" (1899), which R. L. Stevenson chiefly addressed to him; "A Florentine Picture-Chronicle" (1898), and "Early History of Engraving in England" (1905).

In the field both of art and of literature, Colvin's fine taste, wide knowledge and high ideals made his authority and influence extend far beyond his published work.

Colvin was knighted in 1911. The citation reads [cite news
title = New Year's Honours
work = The Times
location = London
page = 10; col B
date = Monday, Jan 02, 1911; Issue 39471
accessdate = 2008-09-27
quote = Knights. His Majesty has been further pleased to confer the honour of Knighthood upon:
archiveurl =
archivedate = ] :Sidney Colvin, Esq., D.Litt:Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum since 1884 and member of many learned bodies. Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge from 1873 to 1895, author of several publications on literature and the fine arts and contributor to the "Encyclopædia Britannica" and "Dictionary of National Biography" &c. Born in 1845.

References

*1911

External links

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