George Heard Hamilton


George Heard Hamilton was professor of the history of art at Yale University, 1936–1966.

Early life

Hamilton was born in Pittsburgh and received his BA in English and an MA in History from Yale. His early specialism was the medieval world and he published his master's thesis on medieval manuscripts in 1933.

Career

He worked at the Walters Art Gallery from 1934 but returned to New Haven in 1936 where he joining the faculty of Yale University where he remained for the rest of his career. He completed a Ph.D on Delacroix in 1942.
Hamilton had a wide range of appointments in the academic art world in addition to his position at Yale, including Slade professor at Cambridge University from 1971.
He was a close friend with Henry Wade White and his sister, Elizabeth Wade White. In 1937 the three of them together attended the coronation of George VI. He married Polly Wiggin in 1946. He died in Williamstown, MA.

Selected publications