It is with great sadness that we announce that John Lowden, Professor of Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London and Fellow of the British Academy, died peacefully on Tuesday, 27 January 2026, with his wife Joanna Cannon and son Gregory at his bedside. John had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease many years earlier.
John studied for his MA and PhD at the Courtauld and joined its academic staff in 1982 after a brief period teaching at St Andrews. He taught generations of students there until his retirement in 2017. Byzantinists will know him especially for his many works on Byzantine manuscripts, including Illuminated Prophet Books (1998), The Octateuchs (1992) and the Jaharis Gospel Lectionary(2009), as well as his invaluable survey text Early Christian and Byzantine Art(1997). These all conveyed John’s deep and close understanding of medieval books, how they were made and how they were read. However, his intellectual reach was much broader. He set up the International Gothic Ivories Project (http://www.gothicivories.
John was far more than his research: he will be remembered by many as a generous and joyous colleague, an inspiring teacher and a great friend to many. His sense of humour and his pithy comments and questions in seminars were infectious, but also kept you on your toes. John’s own students – of whom there are many – will no doubt produce fuller and more insightful memories in the days and weeks to come.
John always ended the annual medieval postgraduate colloquium at the Courtauld by reminding everyone of what an auspicious day it was; so it seems only fitting to end by noting that John died on the Feast of the Return of the Relics of St John Chrysostom to Constantinople, when we also commemorate the memory of the Venerable Peter of Alexandria, Marciana wife of Justin I, Ashot Kuropalates of Georgia, St Devota of Corsica and many, many others. John is in excellent company, but he will be greatly missed by all of us who remain behind.
Antony Eastmond