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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 ...

, and is considered a member of the

Vienna School of Art History The Vienna School of Art History () was the development of fundamental art-historical methods at the University of Vienna. This school was not actually a dogmatically unified group, but rather an intellectual evolution extending over a number of g ...

Early life

Franz Wickhoff was born on 7 May 1853 in

Steyr Steyr (; ) is a statutory city (Austria), 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 lar ...

. He studied at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

under Alexander Conze and Moritz Thausing.

Career

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

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where he met Giovanni Morelli 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 m ...

from the time of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

to that of

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

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

late antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...

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 Hellenism (neoclassicism), Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Ancient Greek art, Greek, Helleni ...

, 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 – 17 June 1905) 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 academic discipl ...

, 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, 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, Walter Friedländer, 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. He is buried in the San Michele cemetery on the

Isola di San Michele The Island of San Michele (, ; ) is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, Veneto, northern Italy. The island contains San Michele in Isola, a Roman Catholic church, as well as the San Michele Cemetery, Venice’s principal cemetery. It is associate ...

in Venice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickhoff, Franz 1853 births 1909 deaths Burials at Isola di San Michele People from Steyr Art historians from Austria-Hungary