| Code | DS/UK/2270 |
| Dates | 1909-2001 |
| Person Name | Gombrich; Ernst Hans Josef (1909-2001); Sir |
| Surname | Gombrich |
| Forenames | Ernst Hans Josef |
| Title | Sir |
| Activity | Historian of Art. |
| Relationships | Son of Karl Gombrich and Leonie Gombrich (née Hock); Brother of Lisbeth Gombrich; Husband of Ilse Gombrich (née Heller) (Married 1936, Died 2006); Father of Richard Gombrich (Born 1937) |
| History | Sent to Sweden with his sister Lisbeth for 9 months to avoid the food shortages following the First World War (1920); Educated at the Theresianum secondary school in Vienna, and later Vienna University, where he completed his dissertation on the 16th century architecture of Giulio Romano's "Palazzo del Té" under the supervision of Julius von Schlosser; Published his first book, "A History of the World for Children" (1936); Married Ilse Heller, a pianist who had been taught by Gombrich's mother (1936); Came to Britain and joined the Warburg Institute as a research assistant (1936) at the suggestion of his friend and colleague Ernst Kris; Began teaching at the Courtauld Institute giving weekly lectures on Vasari (1938-1938); Served with the BBC Monitoring Service at Evesham during World War Two, where he famously delivered the news of Hitler's death to Churchill (1939-145); Returned to the Warburg Institute with a permanent post as a senior research fellow, offered to him by Henri Frankfort (1946-48); Became Lecturer at the Warburg Institute (1948-1954); Published "The Story of Art", which would go on to sell over 2 million copies within his lifetime (1950); Lectured as Slade Professor at the University of Oxford (1950-1953); Promoted to Reader at the Warburg Institute (1954-1956); Became Special Lecturer at the Warburg Institute (1956-1959); Lectured as Durning-Lawrence Professor at University College London (1956-1959); Delivered the Mellon Lectures in Washington about the history of artistic progress towards naturalism (1956), which would later be refined and published as "Art and Illusion" (1960), a work focusing on the role of psychology in the perception of art; Appointed Director of the Warburg Institute (1956-76);Served as Professor of the History of the Classical Tradition at the University of London (1959-1976); Took on the role of Slade Lecturer at Cambridge University (1961-1963);Appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) (1966); Assumed the role of Lethaby professor at the Royal College of Art (1967); Published "Aby Warburg: An Intellectual Biography" (1970); Knighted (1972); Delivered the Romanes Lecture in the Sheldonian Theatre at the University of Oxford taking the subject of "Art History and Social Sciences" (1975); Awarded the Erasmus prize (1975); Awarded the International Balzan Prize (1985); Became a member of the Order of Merit (1988); Awarded the Ludwig Wittgenstein Prize (1988); Bestowed the Goethe Prize (1994) |
| Source | Podro, M (2001) Obituary found in The Guardian
Hope, C (05/11/2001) Obituary in The Independent
Jewish Chronicle (23/11/2001) Obituary found in the Jewish Chronicle
McGrath, E (02/2002) The Burlington Magazine, Volume CXLIV, Number 1187. Available at https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/200202 (Accessed 09/07/2025)
WHO'S WHO (1993) A & C Black Publishers Ltd
Smith, B (2002) Obituary found in Art Monthly Australia
The Times (06/11/2001) Obituaries "Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich" pp17
Trapp, JB (2000) E. H. Gombrich: A Bibliography |
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