Karl Woermann (4 July 1844 – 4 February 1933) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

art historian and museum

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Biography

He was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, studied at various universities (art history at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

), and traveled widely. In 1871 Woermann participated in the so-called " Holbein convention" 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 larg ...

, at which a number of prominent art historians convened to determine which of two versions of

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Jüngere; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered o ...

's " Meyer Madonna" was the original work. Karl Woermann

He was called to the academy at

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in 1874 as

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of the history of art and literature. In 1882 he became director of the picture gallery at

, of which he wrote the first

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

catalogue (1897). To the ''Geschichte der Malerei'', begun by

Alfred Woltmann Alfred Woltmann (18 May 1841 – 6 February 1880) was a German art historian. He was born at Charlottenburg, studied at Berlin and Munich, and was appointed professor of art history successively at the Karlsruhe Polytechnicum (1868) and at the un ...

, he contributed the part on antique painting, and after Woltmann's death completed the entire work. His work unites sound scholarship with sympathetic appreciation, and displays a generous attitude towards the research of others.

Published works

He wrote, besides, several series of

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s. His works include: * ''Die Landschaft in der Kunst der alten Völker'' (1876) * ''Die antiken Odysseelandschaften vom Equilinischen Hügel in Rom'' (1877) * ''Kunst- und Naturskizzen aus Nord- und Südeuropa'' (1880) * ''Was uns die Kunstgeschichte lehrt'' (fourth edition, 1894) * ''Geschichte der Kunst aller Zeiten und Völker'' (three volumes, 1900–05)

External links

* German art historians 1844 births 1933 deaths 19th-century German historians 20th-century German historians Writers from Hamburg Heidelberg University alumni 19th-century German male writers 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers {{germany-art-historian-stub