Joan Evans Video | Book Interviews

Dame Joan Evans, DBE (1893–1977) was a British historian of French and English mediaeval art. Born at Nash Mills, Apsley, Hertfordshire, she was the daughter of antiquarian and businessman Sir John Evans and his third wife, Maria Millington Lathbury (1856–1944). She was educated privately before going up to St Hugh's College, Oxford to read Archealogy. She graduated in 1916 as M.A. and was awarded a D.Litt. in 1930. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Evans served as the first woman President of that Society 1959-64. In 1950, her book Cluniac Art of the Romanesque Period,... MORE

Dame Joan Evans, DBE (1893–1977) was a British historian of French and English mediaeval art. Born at Nash Mills, Apsley, Hertfordshire, she was the daughter of antiquarian and businessman Sir John Evans and his third wife, Maria Millington Lathbury (1856–1944). She was educated privately before going up to St Hugh's College, Oxford to read Archealogy. She graduated in 1916 as M.A. and was awarded a D.Litt. in 1930. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Evans served as the first woman President of that Society 1959-64. In 1950, her book Cluniac Art of the Romanesque Period, which concerned art and sculptures made by the monks of the abbey at Cluny in eastern France, was published by Cambridge University Press. She was half-sister to Sir Arthur Evans, excavator of Knossos and discoverer of Minoan civilization. Evans once said "The development of feudalism is reflected on the development of the castle." LESS