Franz Wickhoff (7 May 1853 – 6 April 1909) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

, and is considered a member of the

Vienna School of Art History {{Distinguish, Vienna School of History The Vienna School of Art History (german: Wiener Schule der Kunstgeschichte) was the development of fundamental art-historical methods at the University of Vienna. This school was not actually a dogmatically ...

Early life

Franz Wickhoff was born on 7 May 1853 in

Steyr Steyr (; Central Bavarian: ''Steia'') is a statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd l ...

. He studied at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

under

Alexander Conze Alexander Christian Leopold Conze (10 December 1831 – 19 July 1914) was a German archaeologist, who specialized in ancient Greek art. He was a native of Hanover, and studied at the universities of University of Göttingen, Göttingen and Unive ...

and

Moritz Thausing Moritz Thausing (3 June 1838 – 11 August 1884) was an Austrian art historian, and counts among the founders of the Vienna School of Art History. Life The son of a palace official in Schloß Tschischkowitz (modern Čížkovice, near Lito ...

Career

In 1879 he received a position at the k.k. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (today the

Museum für angewandte Kunst A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

) in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he met

Giovanni Morelli Giovanni Morelli (25 February 1816 – 28 February 1891) was an Italian art critic and political figure. As an art historian, he developed the "Morellian" technique of scholarship, identifying the characteristic "hands" of painters through s ...

and became interested in his theories of connoisseurship. In 1882 Wickhoff began to teach at the

. In 1895 Wickhoff published his major work, ''Die Wiener Genesis'', a study of the development of

Roman art The art of Ancient Rome, and the territories of its Republic and later Empire, includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be mi ...

from the time of

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

to that of

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

. The book was significant for its appreciation of both "high imperial" Roman art, and indeed also

late antique Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...

art, both of which had previously, under the overwhelming influence of

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann (; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. "The prophet and founding he ...

, been considered as stages of progressive decline following the achievements of Greek art. Wickhoff's study would prove to be of great importance for the later ''Spätrömische Kunstindustrie'' of

Alois Riegl Alois Riegl (14 January 1858, Linz – 17 June 1905, Vienna) was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient ac ...

, his younger contemporary at the Museum, which continued the project of rehabilitating late antique art. It also sparked the extended feud between Riegl and Wickhoff, on the one side, and

Josef Strzygowski Josef Rudolph Thomas Strzygowski (March 7, 1862 – January 2, 1941) was a Polish-Austrian art historian known for his theories promoting influences from the art of the Near East on European art, for example that of Early Christian Armenian arch ...

, on the other, concerning the origins of the late antique style.

Death and legacy

Wickhoff died in Venice on 6 April 1909. His students included many of the major figures of the next generation of Viennese art history, including

Max Dvořák Max Dvořák (4 June 1874 – 8 February 1921) was a Czech-born Austrian art historian. He was a professor of art history at the University of Vienna and a famous member of the Vienna School of Art History, employing a ''Geistesgeschichte'' metho ...

Walter Friedländer Walter Ferdinand Friedlaender (March 10, 1873 – September 8, 1966) was a German art historian (who should not be confused with Max Jakob Friedländer). Walter Friedlaender was the son of Sigismund Friedlaender and Anna Joachimsthal. Born in G ...

, Wilhelm Koehler,

Erica Tietze-Conrat Erica Tietze-Conrat (née Erika Conrat, also known as Erica Tietze; born June 20, 1883 – died December 12, 1958) was an Austrian-born American art historian, one of the first women to study art history, a strong supporter of contemporary art in ...

, Hans Tietze and

Gustav Glück Gustav Glück (6 April 1871, Vienna – 18 November 1952, Santa Monica, Cal.) was an Austrian art historian, the author of several major books on Dutch art. Glück became an Assistant at the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1900, Curator an ...

. He is buried on

Isola di San Michele The Island of San Michele ( it, isola di San Michele, ; vec, ìxoła de San Michièl) is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, Veneto, northern Italy. It is associated with the sestiere of Cannaregio, from which it lies a short distance northeast. ...

in Venice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickhoff, Franz 1853 births 1909 deaths People from Steyr Austrian art historians