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Denman Ross
Denman Waldo Ross (January 10, 1853 – September 12, 1935) was an American painter, art collector, and scholar of art history and theory. He was a lecturer on art and design at Harvard University and a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Ross was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to John Ludlow Ross, a wealthy businessman, and Fanny Walker Ross (née Waldo). He had two older siblings who died before he was born.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the family moved to Boston, joining John Ross's brother Matthias Denman Ross and his wife Mary, who was Fanny Ross's sister, at their house at 76 Boylston St., across from Boston Common.
Ross was enrolled at an elementary school in Newton Corner. When his father's business took the family to New York City in 1862, Ross was tutored at home by his cousin Louise Nathurst, who was seven years his senior. By 1868, the family was living with M. Denman Ross in Jamaica Plain and the younger Ross entered Charles Knapp Dillaway's preparatory school, whose curriculum was designed for Harvard aspirants.
In 1871, Ross matriculated at Harvard College. His father bought a house at 24 Craigie St., a few blocks from the school, and Denman lived at home. He studied history with Henry Adams and received a bachelor's degree in 1875, graduating with honors in history and election to Phi Beta Kappa.
Ross resumed his studies at Harvard as a post-graduate in the fall of 1876. For his thesis, Studies in the Early History of Institutions, he received a PhD in History in 1880.
Ross came to be interested in art soon after this, and began teaching courses in design and art theory at Harvard by 1889. Ross would spend much of the rest of his life lecturing on these and related topics, working with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston on their burgeoning Oriental Art department, and traveling the world in search of artworks to add to his personal collection. Ross was also a member of some of Boston's elite inner circles, and is known to have brushed elbows not only with other prominent people associated with the Museum of Fine Arts and the art world, but also with the likes of Louis Brandeis, John Singer Sargent, Joseph Lindon Smith, Isabella Stewart Gardner and various members of Boston's most prominent families.
A number of his students at Harvard, the Museum of Fine Arts, and elsewhere he lectured, went on to become prominent artists. Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine were among these, as was Marie Danforth Page. The collection of objects donated by Ross to the Museum of Fine Arts over the course of his career as a collector covers a wide geographical, chronological, and material diversity. He collected a myriad of European art objects, along with a great many Chinese and Japanese paintings and textiles.
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Denman Ross
Denman Waldo Ross (January 10, 1853 – September 12, 1935) was an American painter, art collector, and scholar of art history and theory. He was a lecturer on art and design at Harvard University and a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Ross was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to John Ludlow Ross, a wealthy businessman, and Fanny Walker Ross (née Waldo). He had two older siblings who died before he was born.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the family moved to Boston, joining John Ross's brother Matthias Denman Ross and his wife Mary, who was Fanny Ross's sister, at their house at 76 Boylston St., across from Boston Common.
Ross was enrolled at an elementary school in Newton Corner. When his father's business took the family to New York City in 1862, Ross was tutored at home by his cousin Louise Nathurst, who was seven years his senior. By 1868, the family was living with M. Denman Ross in Jamaica Plain and the younger Ross entered Charles Knapp Dillaway's preparatory school, whose curriculum was designed for Harvard aspirants.
In 1871, Ross matriculated at Harvard College. His father bought a house at 24 Craigie St., a few blocks from the school, and Denman lived at home. He studied history with Henry Adams and received a bachelor's degree in 1875, graduating with honors in history and election to Phi Beta Kappa.
Ross resumed his studies at Harvard as a post-graduate in the fall of 1876. For his thesis, Studies in the Early History of Institutions, he received a PhD in History in 1880.
Ross came to be interested in art soon after this, and began teaching courses in design and art theory at Harvard by 1889. Ross would spend much of the rest of his life lecturing on these and related topics, working with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston on their burgeoning Oriental Art department, and traveling the world in search of artworks to add to his personal collection. Ross was also a member of some of Boston's elite inner circles, and is known to have brushed elbows not only with other prominent people associated with the Museum of Fine Arts and the art world, but also with the likes of Louis Brandeis, John Singer Sargent, Joseph Lindon Smith, Isabella Stewart Gardner and various members of Boston's most prominent families.
A number of his students at Harvard, the Museum of Fine Arts, and elsewhere he lectured, went on to become prominent artists. Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine were among these, as was Marie Danforth Page. The collection of objects donated by Ross to the Museum of Fine Arts over the course of his career as a collector covers a wide geographical, chronological, and material diversity. He collected a myriad of European art objects, along with a great many Chinese and Japanese paintings and textiles.