Sir Harold Acton; Author, Art Collector

Sir Harold Acton, a writer, art collector and contemporary of some of the century’s leading creative and political figures, has died. He was 89.

An heir to a British family with deep ties to Italian nobility, Acton died Sunday at his villa, La Pietra, outside Florence.

He was the author of more than 25 books, including biographies such as “The Last Medici” in 1932, and accounts of his years as a university professor in China. He also was a renowned art collector and patron.

At the villa, Acton hosted leaders such as Winston Churchill and Prince Charles and forged friendships with writers and artists including D. H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene and Henry Moore. In Paris, Acton spent time with Pablo Picasso.

He donated La Pietra to New York University to be used for international seminars. Another of his estates in Florence houses the British Institute, a center for the study of British culture and art.

Acton was born in Florence to Sir Arthur Acton and his American wife, Hortense Mitchell. He studied in England at Eton and Oxford before moving to Paris. Acton then taught English literature at the National University in Beijing, where he lived for seven years during the 1930s.

He was knighted in 1974.