A historian of medieval manuscript illumination and objects, John Lowden spent his professional life at the Courtauld Institute of the University of London. He was a committed empiricist who promoted applied codicology as an alternative to the prevalent method of studying illustrations as reflections of authorial originals. Unusual in studying both Byzantine and Latin art, his publications include: 'The Illuminated Prophet Books: A Study of Byzantine Manuscripts of the Major and Minor Prophets' (1988), 'The Byzantine Octateuchs: A Study in Byzantine Manuscript Illumination' (1992), 'Early Christian and Byzantine Art (1997), The Making of the Bibles Moralisées' (2000), and 'The Jaharis Gospel Lectionary: The Story of a Byzantine Book' (2009), as well as some ninety articles, reviews, and dictionary and exhibition catalogue entries. Lowden was the founding Director of the ‘Gothic Ivories Project’ at the Courtauld Institute. A spirited teacher as well as scholar and author, his students perpetuate his legacy on both sides of the Atlantic and in Japan.
Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 23