Jean-Paul Richter (7 June 1847 – 25 August 1937) was a German
art historian
Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history.
Traditionally, the ...
.
Born in
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
as the son of a theologian, Richter studied theology himself, becoming tutor to the young
Alexander Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse. His appointment as tutor gave him the opportunity to travel around Europe and he became interested in
Italian art. He wrote tourist guides for
Baedecker and in 1876 met
Giovanni Morelli, whom he later introduced to
Bernard Berenson. He moved to London in 1877 and wrote several catalogues of art, but is chiefly remembered today for his work on the notebooks of
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
.
Books by Richter
on Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
.
His wife Luise Marie Schwaab and their daughters Irma and Gisela M. A. Richter were also art historians.
References
Richter in the French national library
1847 births
1937 deaths
Writers from Dresden
German art historians
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