- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Lee, Rensselaer W. (Rensselaer Wright), 1898-1984
- Title:
- Rensselaer W. Lee Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/vh53wv802
- Dates:
- 1930-1984 (mostly 1960-1980)
- Size:
- 45 boxes
- Storage Note:
- ReCAP (scarcpxm): Box 1-45
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Consists of the papers of Princeton art historian Rensselaer W. Lee, including correspondence, lectures, and manuscripts and notes for two published works.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
The collection consists of articles, lectures, correspondence, printed matter, photographs, and research material of Lee. Included are files of professional correspondence (1930-1984), papers of organizations to which he belonged, such as the American Academy in Rome (president, 1968-1971), outlines and lectures for his art history courses, and a great deal of notes, letters, and photographs of works of art relating to the pictorial illustration of the works of the Italian poets Lodovico Ariosto (1474-1533) and Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) and the relationship of Renaissance painting and poetry. Manuscripts and related material for two books, Names on Trees: Ariosto in Art (1977) and U Pictura Poesis: The Humanistic Theory of Painting (1967), and a lecture, "Poetry Into Painting: Tasso and Art" (1970), are also included.
- Arrangement
Arranged roughly as follows: index cards, notebooks, professional correspondence, organizations, research notes and photographs, correspondence/recommendations, articles, and lectures.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Lee, Rensselaer W. (Rensselaer Wright), 1898-1984
Rensselaer W. Lee graduated with honors from Princeton in 1920, and in 1926 he received a doctorate in English. He became professor of art history at Northwestern University from 1931 to 1940. Following World War II, he served on the American committee to conserve and restore European monuments and art damaged in the War. Rensselaer W. Lee was the Marquand Professor of art history at Princeton from 1954 to 1966, specializing in baroque and art theory. In 1958 he was part of a team that documented Byzantine art treasures at the sixth-century monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. He served as president of the American Academy in Rome from 1968-1971.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
AM86-6. Compiled by L. Judge.
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
Folder Inventory added by Hilde Creager '2015 in 2012.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
Rensselaer W. Lee Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/vh53wv802
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- ReCAP (scarcpxm): Box 1-45
Find More
- Existence and Location of Copies
Publications by Lee: Names on Trees: Ariosto in Art (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977), Ut Pictura Poesis: The Humanistic theory of Painting (New York: W.W. Norton, 1967)
- Subject Terms:
- Art -- History.
Art -- Study and teaching -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 20th century.
Art and literature -- Italy -- 16th century.
Art historians -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 20th century.
Art, Italian.
European literature -- Renaissance, 1440-1600.
Humanism in art.
Names carved on trees.
Painting, Modern -- Europe -- 17th-18th centuries.
Painting, Modern -- Italy -- 17th-18th centuries.
Painting, Renaissance -- Europe.
Painting, Renaissance -- Italy.
Poetry, Modern -- 15th and 16th centuries.
Poets, Italian -- 15th century.
Poets, Italian -- 16th century.
Ut pictura poesis (Aesthetics) - Genre Terms:
- Correspondence -- 20th century
Lectures -- 20th century.
photographs -- 20th century. - Names:
- American academy in Rome
Ariosto, Lodovico, 1474-1533.
Tasso, Torquato, 1544-1595
