de Montebello, Philippe Lannes

de Montebello, Philippe Lannes (1936–  ) museum director; born in Paris, France. Descendent of a distinguished French family, he was brought to New York City by his parents in 1950. He studied at Harvard (B.A. 1958) and at New York University (B.A. 1963; M.A. 1976). He worked as assistant curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1963–69); from 1969 to 1974 he was director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; he returned to the Metropolitan as its vice-director of curatorial and educational affairs (1974–78). He became acting director of the museum (1977–78), and then its director (1978).