Robert Isaacson

Robert Isaacson (1 September 1927, St. Louis, Missouri – 5 November 1998, New York City) was a collector, scholar, and art dealer eulogized upon his death as "the Berenson of nineteenth century academic studies.

Despite an apparent reading disability, Isaacson was musically gifted; he was permitted to move alone at age sixteen from Saint Louis to New York City to study the harpsichord, although his only subsequent education in any organized sense was a summer at Black Mountain College.

[1] Isaacson spent several years in post-war Rome, Florence and Venice exploring churches and museums, developing a formidable and deeply intuitive understanding of painting, drawing, and the evolution of artistic temperament.

[3] Upon Isaacson's return to New York, he became an art dealer almost by accident, taking on Edwin Hewitt's gallery at the request of mutual friend Lincoln Kirstein.

[1] Isaacson played an important role in helping rehabilitate the reputations of Lawrence Alma-Tadema,[4] Charles Bargue, William-Adolphe Bouguereau,[5] Thomas Dewing, Jean-Léon Gérôme,[6] Albert Joseph Moore, Mihály Munkácsy and Gaston La Touche, among others.

Robert Isaacson owned Jean-Léon Gérôme 's "Solomon's Wall, Jerusalem (The Wailing Wall)" for two decades; [ 1 ] the circa 1875 canvas was sold at Christie's in May 1999 for $2,312,500, establishing what was then a record price for the artist.