Heinrich Gustav Hotho (Berlin, May 22, 1802 – Berlin, December 25, 1873) was a German historian of art and Right Hegelian. He is famous for being the compiler and editor of Hegel's posthumous work ''Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik'' ("''

Lectures on Aesthetics ''Lectures on Aesthetics'' (''LA''; german: Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik, ''VÄ'') is a compilation of notes from university lectures on aesthetics given by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in Heidelberg in 1818 and in Berlin in 1820/21, 1823, 182 ...

''").

Biography

During boyhood he was affected for two years with blindness consequent on an attack of

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

. But recovering his sight he studied so hard as to take his degree at Berlin in 1826. A year of travel spent in visiting Paris, London and the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

determined his vocation. He came home delighted with the treasures which he had seen, worked laboriously for a higher examination and passed as "

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

" in

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

and

art history 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 ...

. In 1829 he was made professor at the

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 o ...

. In 1833 GF Waagen accepted him as assistant in the museum of the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n capital; and in 1858 he was promoted to the directorship of the Berlin print-room. During a long and busy life, in which his time was divided between literature and official duties, Hotho's ambition had always been to master the history of the schools of Germany and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Accordingly what he published was generally confined to those countries. In 1842-1843 he gave to the world his account of German and Flemish painting. From 1853 to 1858 he revised and published anew a part of this work, which he called "The school of

Hubert van Eyck Hubert van Eyck () or Huybrecht van Eyck ( – 18 September 1426) was an Early Netherlandish painter and older brother of Jan van Eyck, as well as Lambert and Margareta, also painters. The absence of any single work that he can clearly be said to ...

, with his German precursors and contemporaries." His attempt later on to write a history of Christian painting overtasked his strength, and remained unfinished. Hotho is important in the history of aesthetics as having developed

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

's theories; but he was deficient in knowledge of Italian painting.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hotho, Heinrich 1802 births 1873 deaths German art historians German male non-fiction writers Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Hegelian philosophers 19th-century German philosophers