Francis L. Richardson ’54

Frank died July 12, 2020.

He was involved in student government, dramatics, and glee club at Brent School, where he prepared for Princeton. An English major, he wrote his senior thesis on the last three novels of Meredith. He joined Prospect Club, was on the board of the Nassau Lit and sang in the Chapel Choir. He graduated with high honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. 

Frank earned a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, where he was recognized for his exceptional perceptiveness and judgment as a connoisseur. His primary research interest was the art of the Italian Renaissance, particularly Venetian painting and drawing. His research on Andrea Schiavone is regarded as a signal contribution to the understanding of Venetian painting practices. 

He thought deeply about the problems of creating verbal description of visual creation and visual perception, and this carried into his talent as a teacher. A student described him as a poetic art historian “who could capture with eloquence the beauty of a work of art.”

Frank was also a poet. He published two collections of his own work and was published in numerous poetry journals and The New Yorker.

He was married for 50 years to Kathleen Schueller. They died together by mutual consent and are survived by their son, Jonathan.