Horst Waldemar Janson was born on October 4, 1913 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He studied at the University of Munich and the University of Hamburg. He came to the U.S. and finished his Ph. D at Harvard University in 1942. He is a scholar of art history known for his book History of Art which was published in 1962. He taught at Worcester Art Museum and the University of Iowa. He authored two award winning books Apes and the Ape Lore in the Middle Ages and The Renaissance and Sculpture of Donatello. He died on September 30, 1982.