Look and learn
“The Story of Art” has sold 6m copies. At 90, Sir Ernst Gombrich is as vigorous as ever, and all his books are once again in print
AT THE age of 90, E.H. Gombrich defies expectations. Most of us have an idea of what an art historian should be like—an aesthete, sporting a Savile Row suit and a cravat with a small stately home in the background. But this most distinguished of art historians lives in a 1930s semi-detached house on the borders of Hampstead and Finchley. His house remains almost unmodernised, with gas fires and linoleum floors. He has never collected art: “I have no possessive instinct.”
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Look and learn”
From the August 7th 1999 edition
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