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Working files of the architectural historians Rudolf and Margot Wittkower, dealing with Baroque and Renaissance painting, sculpture, and architecture. Included are manuscripts, notes, drawings, annotated proofs of articles and books, and some correspondence related to his writings and lectures. The majority of the files document his teaching, research, and writing at the University of London, 1934-1955, and at Columbia University. There are also some manuscript notes from his early years in Italy and Germany. Series I has been divided into six parts: Artists, Subjects, Book Manuscripts, Proofs, Notes, and Printed Materials. Some of the major files are Bernini, Bramante, Carracci, Michelangelo, and Raphael (Artists); Baroque Painting, Patronage, Rome, St. Peter's, Slade Lectures on the history of art (Subjects); ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY, BORN UNDER SATURN, and MATTHEWS LECTURES: GOTHIC VS. CLASSIC (Book Manuscripts). In addition there are proofs of essays and reviews with manuscript corrections and emmendations, copies of several of his own published works with his manuscript corrections, and typescript insertions for new editions. The Notes consist of eight card file boxes with notes chiefly relating to the Baroque period and Bernini. Materials created by or related to Rudolf Wittkower's wife, the architect and interior designer Margot Holzmann Wittkower, can be found primarily in Series II, IV, V, and VI. Material created or maintained solely by Margot Wittkower is located in Series VI; however, material she shared with Rudolf Wittkower is located in Series II, IV, and V.

The collection consists of 11 books (manuscripts) and 4 paintings. The paintings are not distinguished, but could be important for historians of regional styles. Two of them are pretty clearly from the Ramayana." Risha Lee, Jane Emison Assistant Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, comments on the paintings: "As for the paintings, the first two are almost certainly 19th century, Pahari style, and the first might be an artistic study. The woman (perhaps a court lady or ragini) is seated against a large bolster. The second painting depicts two noblemen seated in conversation outdoors, while underneath them an older nobleman rides an elephant and carries a trident, possibly a symbol of Shiva. The other two fragmentary paintings are very nicely executed: the first depicts Hanuman attended by his monkey entourage paying homage to some individual, if it is not Rama, perhaps it is the seated Krishna who appears in the second fragment, which depicts a blue skinned male wearing a yellow dhoti, with sages seated underneath him.".