Background Burns was born in 1939 in
Aberdeen, Scotland. He attended
Westminster School in London and moved on to study history at
King's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a
B.A. At Cambridge he co-edited
Delta magazine with
Simon Gray, the now famous playwright. Two influences during Burns's undergraduate years were the lecturer
John Saltmarsh, whose specialism was in medieval economic and social history, and the scholar, Robert Ralph Bolgar, author of The Classical Heritage. Burns focused on
Renaissance architects and their study of the antique for his postgraduate studies at the
Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He was supervised by
Peter Murray who, at the time, was Librarian at the
Conway Library. Burns died in February 2025, at the age of 86.
Academic life By the late 1960s, Burns was teaching
History of art at
Cambridge University using his own colour images of
Italian architecture in his lectures.
Anthony Blunt, Director of the
Courtauld Institute, came to hear of Burns's talent and encouraged him to teach at the Courtauld. By 1969 he was a lecturer there and this brought him into contact with a number of eminent art historians. such as
John Shearman,
Michael Hirst and Jennifer Fletcher. In 1986 Burns moved to a professorship at
Harvard University in the Graduate School of Design. Italy, long his passion, became Burns's next destination taking a professorial position at the
University of Ferrara in 1994. A year later he went over to the
IUAV University of Venice. In 1993 Burns was appointed "Presidente of the Consiglio Scientifico of CISAAP, the Palladio Centre in
Vicenza. Burns's last post was to a chair in architectural history at the
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. and was due to appear at the 33rd International Seminar on the History of Architecture,
Naples and the
Renaissance, at CISAAP,
Andrea Palladio,
Vicenza, between 18 and 20 May 2020. A short video clip of Burns discussing Palladio's relevance today gives some insight into Burns's expertise on the great architect.
Legacy Burns had another connection to the
Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute, London. As part of a wider project, Courtauld Connects, the library's collection of over a million photographic prints, glass and film negatives are currently being digitised. Photographs attributed to Burns are to be found among them. == Curated exhibitions ==