COLVIN, SIR SIDNEY (1845-1927), English literary and art critic, was born at Norwood, London, on June 18, 1845, and died on May 11, 1927. He was scholar and then fellow of Trinity college, Cambridge. In 1873 he was elected Slade professor of fine art at Cambridge; he was four times re-elected, and from 1876 to 1884 was director of the Fitzwilliam museum. From the date of his fellowship in 1868 onwards he had contributed many articles to the reviews and to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on the fine arts. In 1873 he met Robert Louis Stevenson, and formed a friendship which endured until Stevenson's death. The story of this friendship is told in the Vailima Letters, which appeared under Colvin's editorship in 1890. Colvin also edited the Edin burgh edition of Stevenson's works and two further volumes of letters in 1895 and 1911. In 1884 he was appointed keeper of the prints and drawings in the British museum. In addition to the reorganization of the system, which made the rich collections of the museum more readily available to students and to the general public, he arranged for the acquisition of numerous precious col lections before their value was generally realized. He was knighted on his retirement in 1921.