![Lotte Brand Philip](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Lotte_Brand_Philip.jpg)
Lotte Brand Philip (May 27, 1910 – May 2, 1986) was a German
art historian
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 ...
, professor and expert on
Netherlandish art
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
, one of the most notable and incisive experts on 14th- and 15th-century art to have studied under
Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime.
Panofsky's work represents a hig ...
. Born a Christian of Jewish descent, she resisted state intimidation to leave Germany, only moving to the United States in 1941.
[ She began her new life as a jewelry designer, before establishing a career as an art historian and writer, and taking professorship at a number of universities, including ]New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
and Queens College, Flushing. During her long career, Brand wrote highly regarded books and monographs on artists such as Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...
, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
and Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
, and in 1980 became emeritus at Queens. Brand Philip died on May 2, 1986 in New York City.
Early life
Lotte Johanna Friederike Brand was born in Altona, Hamburg
Altona (), also called Hamburg-Altona, is the westernmost urban borough (''Bezirk'') of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864, Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Alto ...
, Germany, on May 27, 1910, to Friedrich Wilhelm Brand and Anna Majud.[''Contemporary Authors Online''] She studied at the Technische Hochschule in Munich and at the University of Heidelberg
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
. As a doctoral student at the University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
, Brand studied under Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime.
Panofsky's work represents a hig ...
. She wrote her doctoral thesis in 1937 at the University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
under Kurt Bauch
Kurt Bauch (25 November 1897 in Neustadt-Glewe – 1 March 1975 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German art historian with particular interest in the art of Rembrandt.
The son of a Mecklenburg judge, Bauch studied art history at the University o ...
, on the topic of Stefan Lochner's altarpiece ''Altar of the City Patrons''.[
]
Career
Brand, a Christian of Jewish extraction, studied in Munich and Hamburg with a number of Jewish PhD students of art history. During Nazi rule she was advised to leave Germany, but refused and stayed through the first wave of immigration of her family and peers.[ She was forced out in 1941, and emigrated to the United States, arriving on April 28 aboard the MS ''Hikawa Maru''. Although she held a doctorate in art history, she lacked significant teaching experience and had difficulty acquiring an academic position in the US. She took work as a jewelry designer in Rhode Island and New York, conducting her scholarly research during trips to Germany after the war. She married Herbert Leopold Wolfgang Philip (1909 Hamburg – 1988 Queens) around 1942; and thereafter published under the name Lotte Brand Philip.][Sorensen, ''Dictionary of Art Historians''][
Her monograph on ]Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
was published by Abrams Books
Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), is an American publisher of art and illustrated books, children's books, and stationery.
The enterprise is a subsidiary of the French publisher La Martinière Groupe. Run by President and CEO Michael ...
in 1955. William S. Heckscher, who had studied under Panofsky with her and now taught at the Institute of Art History at Utrecht, arranged for Brand Philip to tour the Netherlands as a guest lecturer in 1957. She also lectured at Bryn Mawr College and at the New School for Social Research in New York in 1959–1960.[Clark ''et al'', p. 11] She returned to academia full-time in 1960 when H. W. Janson
Horst Woldemar Janson (October 4, 1913 – September 30, 1982), was a Russian Empire-born German-American professor of art history best known for his ''History of Art'', which was first published in 1962 and has since sold more than four million c ...
, another classmate from her Panofsky days, offered her a position at New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
. The following year she accepted a professorship at Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...
, where she taught art history for the next 25 years.[
In February 1966 she lectured at the ]National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
on her paper "''The Peddler'' by Hieronymus Bosch: A Study in Detection". Brand Philip was selected to give the 1967–1968 Benjamin West
Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...
Memorial Lecture on art history at Swarthmore College, on the topic "The Ghent Altarpiece: A New Solution to an Old Problem".
Ghent Altarpiece
In 1932 Brand Philip attended a Panofsky lecture on the Ghent Altarpiece
The ''Adoration of the Mystic Lamb'', also called the ''Ghent Altarpiece'' ( nl, De aanbidding van het Lam Gods), is a large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420 ...
. Panofsky, an acknowledged expert in early Netherlandish art and symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sy ...
, addressed several uncertainties including the curious variations in scale of the figures, the lack of a unified religious message and the unclear attribution of the work between the van Eyck brothers.[An inscription discovered in 1832 on one panel's frame had been translated "The painter Hubert van Eyck, greater than whom no one was found, began ]his work
His or HIS may refer to:
Computing
* Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company
* Honeywell Information Systems
* Hybrid intelligent system
* Microsoft Host Integration Server
Education
* Hangzhou International School, in ...
and Jan, his brother, second in art" completed it". Brand Philip hypothesized that 'painter' (''pictor'') was actually 'sculptor' (''fictor''), that Hubert had made the sculptural framework, and that 'second in art' was not a judgement of Jan's ability but rather intended to denote that Jan began the paintings after Hubert's framework was finished. See Swan, pp. 36, 39. Panofsky was of the opinion that the panels had originally been intended for three separate works of art, and that after Hubert's death, they were hastily finished by Jan and combined into a single piece.[Swan, p. 37]
Brand Philip felt there was another explanation, but inspiration did not strike until some 30 years later. During a walk down Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
, a chance encounter with an image of the large, house-shaped reliquary
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...
of Mary at Aachen helped her picture a solution.[ She came to believe that all of the major issues with the Ghent work—scale, unification of message, and attribution—could be explained by the presence of a surrounding framework, elaborately sculpted in the manner of a reliquary or ]church tabernacle
A tabernacle or sacrament house is a fixed, locked box in which the Eucharist (consecrated communion hosts) is stored as part of the "reserved sacrament" rite. A container for the same purpose, which is set directly into a wall, is called an ' ...
.
In 1964 she identified several contemporary retable
A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...
s that included sculptural frameworks similar to that she envisioned had originally existed for the Ghent piece. She presented her findings at the College Art Association
The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understa ...
's annual conference in January 1965, and subsequently lectured on the topic at nearly 40 colleges and museums. During a research trip to Ghent and Brussels in 1966, Brand Philip discovered an 1829 painting by Pierre-François de Noter which depicted the Ghent Altarpiece panels in place beneath a large sculptured stone canopy very similar to that which she had envisioned. Brand Philip believed that the stone canopy was a remnant which had survived to de Noter's time, and felt this supported her theory of a grand, unifying framework.[The rest of the framework, she theorized, had likely been a victim of iconoclasts during the ]Beeldenstorm
''Beeldenstorm'' () in Dutch and ''Bildersturm'' in German (roughly translatable from both languages as 'attack on the images or statues') are terms used for outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th centu ...
. The panels were removed to safety in 1566 just before rioters destroyed many ecclesiastical works and structures throughout Ghent. She published her research in ''The Ghent Altarpiece and the Art of Jan van Eyck'' in 1971.
Portrait Diptych of Dürer's Parents
In the 1970s Brand Philip tackled questions surrounding ''Albrecht Dürer the Elder with a Rosary,'' a painting by Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
in the Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
in Florence. The portrait of the artist's father was recorded in several art inventories alongside a portrait of his mother Barbara Holper and the two were presumed to have originally formed a diptych
A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...
, but the paintings had become separated sometime between 1588 and 1628, and the location of Barbara's portrait was unknown.[The portrait of Albrecht Dürer the Elder was painted in early 1490. After the painter's death in 1528, the painting was kept by first his brother, and then his brother's widow, before passing into the private collection of Willibald Imhoff, the grandson of Dürer's great friend ]Willibald Pirckheimer
Willibald Pirckheimer (5 December 1470 – 22 December 1530) was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, imperial counsellor and a member of the governing City ...
. Formal inventories of Imhoff's collection in 1573–1574, 1580, and 1588 listed the father's portrait as well as a portrait of Dürer's mother; the two were presumed by scholars to have formed a diptych
A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...
. The next surviving Imhoff inventory, that of 1628, does not list the father's portrait, which may have been sold to Rudolf II of Austria in the interim. Dürer's mother's portrait is listed in the 1628 inventory, and in an account book held by Hans Heironymus Imhoff (1633–1658), but subsequently disappears from records. Hutchison (p. 209) confirms that the mother's portrait has been "considered lost since the seventeenth century." Dürer expert Matthias Mende described this as "among the most severe losses in the Dürer oeuvre".[Brand Philip, "The Portrait Diptych of Dürer's Parents," p. 7]
Brand Philip recalled seeing a portrait of a married woman which she had strongly felt was by Dürer. The painting, held by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National ...
in Nuremberg under the name ''Unknown Woman in a Coif'',[Hutchison, p. 209] had variously been attributed to Master W. B., a "Nuremberg painter, circle of Wolgemut" (Dürer's mentor), and Master of the Salem Altarpiece, but was at that time unattributed. Brand Philip observed that the Nuremberg painting bore a strong compositional likeness to the father's portrait: they were of similar size[The Nuremberg portrait was about 3 cm smaller, but had clearly been trimmed on the left side.] and color scheme, and the sitters were painted against a green background in the same prayerful position, each holding a rosary.[ A comparison with '' Portrait of the Artist's Mother at the Age of 63''—in which an inscription clearly identifies the subject as Dürer's mother Barbara Holper—seemed to bear out her theory, with the two women showing a strong resemblance. Brand Philip's identification was confirmed in 1977 by Dürer scholar ]Fedja Anzelewsky
Fedja Erik Allan Anzelewsky (17 March 1919, Nordhausen – 18 May 2010, Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it ...
, who found that the reverse side of both the Nuremberg and Florence portraits showed patterns of dark clouds and the faded mark "No. 19", which matched the inventory number of the presumed diptych from the 1573 and 1580 inventories. Brand Philip's findings were published in the 1978–1979 issue of '' Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art'' in a paper titled "The Portrait Diptych of Dürer's Parents." Her identification of the Nuremberg portrait as the missing diptych image of Barbara Holper was not universally accepted for some time,[ but has been borne out by infrared examination of the paintings in 2012. The portraits were reunited in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum's 2012 exhibition "The Early Dürer".
]
Selected works
*1938. "Stephan Lochners Hochaltar von St. Katharinen zu Köln." University of Freiburg.
*1953. ''Heironymus Bosch.'' Abrams Art Books. New York: Harry N. Abrams. (1956: Portfolio edition, 1970: Expanded edition)
*1955. "The Prado 'Epiphany' by Jerome Bosch." ''Art Bulletin'', XXXV
*1958. "''The Peddler'' by Hieronymus Bosch, a Study in Detection." ''Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 9'', p. 1–81
*1959. "Eine kölnische Kreuzigung im Historischen Museum Basel." ''Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch'', XXI, p. 223–226
*1967. "Raum und Zeit in der Verkündigung des Genter Altares." ''Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch'', XXIX, p. 62–104
*1971. ''The Ghent Altarpiece and the Art of Jan van Eyck.'' Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
*1978–1979 with Fedja Anzelewsky
Fedja Erik Allan Anzelewsky (17 March 1919, Nordhausen – 18 May 2010, Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it ...
. "The Portrait Diptych of Dürer's Parents." '' Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art'', Vol. 10, No. 1, p. 5–18
*1981. "Das neu entdeckte Bildnis von Dürers Mutter." ''Renaissance Vorträge'' (Stadt Nürnberg Stadtgeschichtliche Museen), VII, p. 3–33.
Personal life
In 1970, she married , director of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne. Brand Philip died of a stroke in New York City on May 2, 1986.[
]
Recognition
Brand Philip was an acknowledged expert in the fields of Gothic and Renaissance art in northern Europe. She received fellowship awards from the Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
, Bollinger, the National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, the American Association of University Women
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...
, and the Belgian American Educational Foundation
The Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) is an educational charity. It supports the exchange of university students, scientists and scholars between the United States and Belgium. The foundation fosters the higher education of deserving ...
.[ On the occasion of her 75th birthday, her colleagues celebrated her life and work with a traditional '']festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
'': the publication of ''Tribute to Lotte Brand Philip: Art Historian and Detective''.[Clark ''et al'', p. 7]
References
Footnotes
Citations
Works cited
*"Lotte B(rand) Foerster (1910–1986)." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Accessed 27 September 2013.
*Brand Philip, Lotte, Anzelewsky, Fedja. "The Portrait Diptych of Dürer's Parents." '' Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art'', Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 5–18.
* Clark, William W., Eisler, Colin, Heckscher, William S., Lane, Barbara G. (1985). ''A Tribute to Lotte Brand Philip: Art Historian and Detective.'' New York: Abaris Books
*Hutchison, Jane Campbell (1990). ''Albrecht Durer: A Biography.'' Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
*Sorensen, Lee.
Lotte Philip Brand Foerster
" ''Dictionary of Art Historians
The ''Dictionary of Art Historians'' (DAH) is an online encyclopedia of topics relating to art historians, art critics and their dictionaries. The mission of the project is to provide free, reliable, English-language information on published art ...
''. Accessed 27 September 2013.
* Swan, Jon. "The Mystery of the Ghent Altarpiece." '' Saturday Review'', March 4, 1978.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philip, Lotte Brand
1910 births
1986 deaths
German art historians
Technical University of Munich alumni
Queens College, City University of New York faculty
German emigrants to the United States
Women art historians
20th-century German historians
German women historians
20th-century German women writers