Adolph Goldschmidt (15 January 1863 – 5 January 1944) was a Jewish German art historian. He taught at

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

from 1892 to 1903, and

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

from 1904 to 1912.

Biography

He was born on 15 January 1863 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. His family was Jewish and in the banking business. After a short business career he devoted himself (1885) to the study of the history of art at the universities of

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

, and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. He took his degree in 1889 with the dissertation, ''Lübecker Malerei und Plastik bis 1530'' (English: ''Lübeck painting and sculpture until 1530'')'','' the first detailed analysis of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

art of northeast Germany. After traveling through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, England, France, and Italy, on the presentation of his work ''Der Albanipsalter in Hildesheim und Seine Beziehung zur Symbolischen Kirchenskulptur des 12. Jahrhunderts'' (English: ''The Albans Psalter in Hildesheim and Its Relationship to the Symbolic Church Sculpture of the 12th Century'') (1895), he became '' Privatdozent'' at the

. Notable students of Goldschmidt include

Klara Steinweg Klara Steinweg (1903–1972) was a German art historian, specializing in the Italian Renaissance. She was a collaborator with Richard Offner on the ''Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting'', from 1930 to 1965. Biography Klar ...

. His work, ''Studien zur Geschichte der Sächsischen Skulptur in der Uebergangszeit vom Romanischen zum Gotischen Stil'' (English: ''Studies on the history of Saxon sculpture in the transition period from the Romanesque to the Gothic style'') (Berlin, 1902) traces the gradual development of German

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

with reference to the period of its florescence in the thirteenth century. His work, ''Die Kirchenthür des Heil. Ambrosius in Mailand'' (English: ''The church door of salvation. Ambrose in Milan'') (1902) for the first time showed the door of the

Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio (official name: ''Basilica romana minore collegiata abbaziale prepositurale di Sant'Ambrogio'') is a church in the center of Milan, northern Italy. History One of the most ancient churches in Milan, it was built by ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

to be a monument of

early Christian art Early Christian art and architecture or Paleochristian art is the art produced by Christians or under Christian patronage from the earliest period of Christianity to, depending on the definition used, sometime between 260 and 525. In practice, id ...

. He also contributed a number of important articles on North-German painting, Saxon sculpture, and early medieval miniature manuscripts to the ''Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft,'' ''Zeitschrift für Christliche Kunst,'' and ''Jahrbuch der Kgl. Preussischen Kunstsammlungen.'' Being of Jewish origin, he had to flee

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. He died in

Basel, Switzerland , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...

on 5 January 1944, aged 80.

References

Adolph-Goldschmidt-Zentrum zur Erforschung der romanischen Skulptur
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldschmidt, Adolph 1863 births 1944 deaths Writers from Hamburg German art historians Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Switzerland German male non-fiction writers Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America