Jean-Paul Richter (7 June 1847 – 25 August 1937) was a German
art historian.
Born in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
as the son of a theologian, Richter studied theology himself, becoming tutor to the young
Alexander Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse
Alexander Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse (german: Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht Georg Landgraf von Hessen, 25 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a German prince of the House of Hesse.
Biography
He was the son of Prince Frederick Willi ...
. His appointment as tutor gave him the opportunity to travel around Europe and he became interested in
Italian art
Since ancient times, Greeks, Etruscans and Celts have inhabited the south, centre and north of the Italian peninsula respectively. The very numerous rock drawings in Valcamonica are as old as 8,000 BC, and there are rich remains of Etruscan art ...
. He wrote tourist guides for
Baedecker and in 1876 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 ...
, whom he later introduced to
Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...
. 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 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
.
[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 libr ...
.
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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