{{Short description|British art historian (1929–2011)}} {{distinguish|text=William Mostyn Owen, Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = William Mostyn-Owen | image = William Mostyn-Owen.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1929|5|10|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2011|5|2|1929|5|10|df=yes}} | death_place = | education = Eton College | alma_mater = Magdalene College, Cambridge | occupation = Art historian | spouse = Gaia Servadio (c. 1961–1989) <br />Faith Clark <br />{{marriage|Jane Martineau|1992}} | children = 3, including Allegra Mostyn-Owen }} '''William "Willy" Mostyn-Owen''' (10 May 1929 – 2 May 2011) was a British art historian. He worked for some years with the art expert Bernard Berenson, and was his bibliographer. He was connected with the auctioneers Christie's for 30 years.<ref name="theguardian1">{{cite news|last=Burton|first=Humphrey|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/jul/20/william-mostyn-owen-obituary |title=William Mostyn-Owen obituary|work=The Guardian |access-date=24 September 2016}}</ref>
==Early life== William Mostyn-Owen was born on 10 May 1929 to Lt-Col Roger Arthur Mostyn-Owen (1888-1947) and wife Margaret Eva Dewhurst. The Mostyn-Owen family were military landed gentry of Woodhouse, Shropshire.<ref name="Burke 1969, p. 482">Burke's Landed Gentry 18th ed., vol. 2, ed. Peter Townend, 1969, p. 482</ref><ref>Pedigree of Owen of Llunllo and Bettws, Co. Montgomery, George Grazebrook, 1887, Page 18</ref> He had three older brothers and a sister. His brothers all died during the Second World War, and his father died while William was in his teens, so that he inherited the family seat of Woodhouse and the Dewhurst family's Aberuchill Castle, Perthshire, at a young age. He was educated at Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge.<ref name="theguardian1"/>
==Career== After his graduation, Mostyn-Owen worked for the Fogg Museum at Harvard and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In the 1950s, he spent six years working closely with Bernard Berenson, the art expert, at his Villa I Tatti near Florence, and acquired a deep understanding of the art of the Italian Renaissance.<ref name="theguardian1"/> In Florence, the British consul commented that Mostyn-Owen was "worth a battleship" for his charm and tact when dealing with American President Harry S. Truman, the King of Norway Haakon VII and other visiting dignitaries.<ref name="theguardian1"/>
He joined the auction house Christie's in London, alongside David Carritt, Noel Annesley, and Brian Sewell, and worked there for almost thirty years. He became a director in 1968, and chairman of Christie's Education from 1979 to 1988.<ref name="theguardian1"/>
==Personal life== Mostyn-Owen's first wife from 28 September 1960<ref name="Burke 1969, p. 482"/> to 1989 was the Italian writer Gaia Servadio, with whom he had three children, Owen (b. 1962), Allegra (b. 1964) and Orlando (b. 1973).<ref name="theguardian1"/><ref name="royaldrawingschool.org">{{Cite web|url=https://royaldrawingschool.org/artists/faculty/orlando-mostyn-owen/|title=Orlando Mostyn Owen {{!}} The Royal Drawing School|website=The Royal Drawing School|access-date=2018-06-04}}</ref> In 1968, they were living in a single wing of Aberuchill Castle which consisted of "23 rooms or so".<ref name="Inc1968">{{cite book|author=Time Inc|title=Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3lQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA83|access-date=21 September 2016|date=7 June 1968|publisher=Time Inc|pages=83–84|issn=0024-3019}}</ref>
His second wife was Faith Clark, and his third was Jane Martineau, also an art historian, whom he married in 1992.<ref name="theguardian1"/>
His daughter Allegra, an art teacher, was the first wife of the politician Boris Johnson.<ref>{{cite web |author=Rachel Helyer-Donaldson |url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/entertainment/17457/boris-johnson%E2%80%99s-first-wife-marries-again |title=Boris Johnson's first wife marries again |website=Theweek.co.uk |date=8 January 2010 |access-date=24 September 2016 |archive-date=17 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517103328/http://www.theweek.co.uk/entertainment/17457/boris-johnson%E2%80%99s-first-wife-marries-again |url-status=dead }}</ref> His son Orlando is an artist and a painter.<ref name="royaldrawingschool.org"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mostyn-Owen, William}} Category:1929 births Category:2011 deaths Category:Christie's people Category:Writers from Shropshire Category:People from Perthshire Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Category:British art historians Category:Family of Boris Johnson