YVONNE HACKENBROCH

HACKENBROCH--Yvonne, born April 27, 1912 in Frankfurt, Germany; died September 7, 2012 in England. The American Friends of the Warburg Institute mourn the death of their benefactor Dr. Yvonne Hackenbroch. A refugee from Nazi Germany, she became an internationally renowned expert on antique silver, china, bronze, furniture and other objects. As a young scholar she took part in the excavation and cataloguing of the Sutton Hoo Treasure. In 1946 she was sent by the British government to Toronto to oversee the transfer of the Lee Collection of Renaissance art to Canada as a gesture of gratitude for its help in World War II. During her long career she worked at the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum, where she was responsible for cataloguing the Untermeyer Collection and then became a full-time curator, specializing in Renaissance art. Her many publications established her reputation as the world's foremost expert on Renaissance jewellery. She was a generous supporter of many charities, particularly the Warburg Institute, London, in whose library she spent much of her time. Daniel Javitch, President John B. Adams, Vice President Jonathan Kagan, Treasurer