Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr
Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. is the curator of the Northern European Art Collection at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, DC.[1]
Early life
Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. received his PhD from Harvard University in 1973. He grew up in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, the son of Ann, and Arthur K. Wheelock, CEO of a multigenerational family textile manufacturing enterprise. Arthur K. Jr was also descended from the Rev. Ralph Wheelock, of Dedham, Massachusetts Colony, attributed to be the forerunner of American Public Education.
Career
Wheelock came to the National Gallery of Art in 1973 as the "David E. Finley Fellow", and later he was also named the research curator.[1] He commenced his teaching career at the University of Maryland, where he is professor of art history. He was appointed curator of Dutch and Flemish painting at the National Gallery of Art in 1975, which led to his appointment title of Curator of Northern Baroque Art.[1]
Wheelock, has lectured widely on Dutch and Flemish art, and has authored a number of books such as Perspective, Optics, and Delft Artists around 1650 (1977); Jan Vermeer (1981); Vermeer and the Art of Painting (1995); and the National Gallery of Art catalogue, Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century (1995).[1] He has written articles and essays such as "The Story of Two Vermeer Forgeries," in Shop Talk: Studies in Honor of Seymour Slive (1995); "Rembrandt Self-Portraits: The Creation of a Myth," in Rembrandt, Rubens, and the Art of their Time: Recent Perspectives (1997); "The Queen, the Dwarf, and the Court: Van Dyck and the Ideals of the English Monarchy," in Van Dyck 1599-1999: Conjectures and Refutations (2001); and "The Appreciation of Vermeer in Twentieth-Century America" (co-author with Marguerite Glass), in The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer (2001).[1]
In 1982, at the time of the Dutch-American Bicentennial, Wheelock was named Knight Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau by the Dutch Government.[1] The College Art Association/National Institute awarded him its Conservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation in 1993.[1] He received the Minda de Gunzburg Prize for the best exhibition catalogue of 1995 (Johannes Vermeer); the Johannes Vermeer Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Dutch Art, which was presented by the Johannes Vermeer Stichting; the Bicentennial Medal from Williams College; and the Dutch-American Achievement Award, presented by The Netherlands-American Amity Trust.[1] In 2006 Wheelock was named Commander in The Order of Leopold I by the Belgian government.[1]