Anthony Blunt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Anthony Frederick Blunt 26 September 1907 Bournemouth, Hampshire, England |
| Died | 26 March 1983 (aged 75) Westminster, London, England |
| Burial place | Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium, London, England |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Art historian, professor, writer, spy |
| Awards | KCVO, revoked in 1979 on the grounds of treason |
| Espionage activity | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Codenames | |
Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983),[4] styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 until November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy.
Blunt was a professor of art history at the University of London, the director of the Courtauld Institute of Art and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures. His 1967 monograph on the French Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin is still widely regarded as a watershed book in art history.[5] His teaching text and reference work Art and Architecture in France 1500–1700, first published in 1953, reached its fifth edition (in a version slightly revised by Richard Beresford) in 1999, at which time it was still considered the best account of the subject.[6]
In 1964, after being offered immunity from prosecution, Blunt confessed to having been a spy for the Soviet Union. He was considered to be the "fourth man" of the Cambridge Five, a group of Cambridge-educated spies who worked for the Soviets between the 1930s and the 1950s.[7] Blunt was the fourth member of the group to be discovered; the fifth, John Cairncross, was yet to be revealed. The height of Blunt's espionage activity was during the Second World War, when he passed to the Soviets intelligence about Wehrmacht plans that the British government had decided to withhold. His confession—a closely guarded secret for years—was revealed publicly by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in November 1979. He was stripped of his knighthood immediately thereafter.
- ^ Carter 2001, p. 180.
- ^ Carter 2001, p. 302.
- ^ Carter 2001, p. 319.
- ^ GRO Register of Deaths: Mar 1983 15 2186 Westminster – Anthony Frederick Blunt, DoB = 26 September 1907; Varriano 1996.
- ^ Shone, Richard and Stonard, John-Paul, eds. The Books that Shaped Art History, Introduction. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013.
- ^ Hopkins, Andrew (2000). "Review of Art and Architecture in France 1500–1700 by Anthony Blunt, Richard Beresford", The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 31, no. 2 (Summer), pp. 633–635. JSTOR 2671729.
- ^ "Blunt, Prof. Anthony (Frederick), (26 Sept. 1907 – 26 March 1983), Professor of the History of Art, University of London, and Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, 1947–September 1974; Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, 1952–72 (of the Pictures of King George VI, 1945–52); Adviser for the Queen's Pictures and Drawings, 1972–78". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u162133. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1. Retrieved 12 February 2021.