Ruth Bernard Yeazell

Sterling Professor of English; former Director, Lewis Walpole Library. Used expertise in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction to mount a series of major inquiries, from the representation of modesty to the Western meaning of the harem, the relationship between Dutch painting and literary realism, and the history of painting titles in Western art.  Currently at work on a reception history of thre art of Johannes Vermeer. Writer with a wide command of literary and visual culture. Long career as a reviewer. Distinguished service to Yale and other major universities and to the Modern Language Association.