Slade Professors

The Slade Professorship of Fine Art at Cambridge was founded in 1869 as the result of a bequest from the art collector Felix Slade (1788-1868). At the same time, similar chairs were founded in the Universities of Oxford and London. Originally Slade Professors were elected, and sometimes re-elected, for three-year terms. In 1961 the practice changed and since then visiting Slade Professors have been elected on an annual basis. Holders of the Chair usually deliver eight public lectures and four classes for students in the department during the Lent Term of their year in office. The Slade Professorship of Fine Art has been held by many of the most distinguished historians of art and architecture from around the world.

The current Slade Professor is Dr Gülru Necipoğlu, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art and Director of the Aga Khan Program of Islamic Architecture at Harvard University. Professor Necipoğlu will deliver her Slade lectures in Cambridge in the second half of the Lent Term 2013. Next year the department will welcome Dame Jessica Rawson, Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology in the University of Oxford and former Warden of Merton College, Oxford, as Slade Professor of Fine Art for 2013-14.