Jan Svanberg

Jan Viktor Svanberg (18 June 1935 – 21 April 2024) was a Swedish art historian specialized in medieval art and professor emeritus of Art History at Stockholm University.

Jan Svanberg was the son of the literary historian Victor Svanberg [sv] and Inga Esbjörnsson, and the nephew of the Nordist Nils Svanberg [sv]. In 1965 he married the literary scholar and feminist Birgitta Svanberg [sv].

Svanberg graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1960, a Filosofie licentiat [sv] in 1965 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Stockholm in 1973.

He was a teacher at the Södermalmsskolan [sv] in 1961-1962 and a teacher in the Department of Art History at Stockholm University starting in 1962.

He was a Lecturer between 1974 and 1993, a Docent between 1981 and 1986, Prefekt (akademisk titel) [sv] between 1982-1989 and Professor between 1982-1983 and 1989. In 1994 he became a professor of art history at the University of Oslo. He was a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1995.

In 1990, Jan Svanberg received the Samfundet S:t Erik plaque at the same time as Göran Dahlbäck [sv].