Branner, Robert.

Robert Branner (1927-1973), Columbia University professor of art history, was an expert on French Gothic architecture, sculpture, and illuminated manuscripts. Born and raised in New York, Branner was the son of former vaudeville troupers, Martin Michael Branner and Edith Fabbrini. His father, Mike Branner was also a cartoonist and creator of the comic strip, "Winnie Winkle, the Breadwinner."

Branner's undergraduate studies at Yale University were interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army in 1945. He served in Europe and it was there that his interest was piqued in what would become his lifelong work: the study of French Gothic art and architecture. In 1946 Branner returned to civilian life, and to Yale from which he received both his B.A. in Classics in 1948, and his Ph.D. in Art History in 1953. Branner's mentors and colleagues at Yale included Sumner McKnight Crosby, Jean Bony and Louis Grodecki. During his Yale years Branner also studied at the École des Chartres and the Institut d'Art et Archaéologie, and led the excavation work of Bourges Cathedral from 1950-1952. Upon graduation from Yale, Branner married Shirley Prager, a librarian.

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