Wolfgang Lotz (April 19, 1912, in

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...

– October 24, 1981, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) 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 ...

specialized in

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

Life and work

Lotz first studied Law in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

and then art history at the Universities of

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

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

, where he was a student of

Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich (born 23 March 1903 in Leipzig; died 14 September 1978 in Munich) was a German art historian specialized in Italian Renaissance art. From 1947 to 1970, he served as director of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, ...

. In 1937, he completed his Ph.D. dissertation on Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola's architecture. He first worked at the

Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz The Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (KHI) is one of the oldest research institutions dedicated to the history of art and architecture in Italy, where facets of European, Mediterranean and global history are investigated. Founded in 1897 by ...

, and after his return from military service he was assigned to the International Commission for Monuments in

. Then he worked (under Heydenreich as director) as deputy director at the

Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte The Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (ZI; engl. ''Central Institute for Art History''), is an independent art-historical research institute in Germany. The institute resides in the former administration building of the National Socialist party ...

in Munich. In 1952, he was appointed professor of art at Vassar, replacing

Richard Krautheimer Richard Krautheimer (6 July 1897 in Fürth (Franconia), Germany – 1 November 1994 in Rome, Italy) was a 20th-century art historian, architectural historian, Baroque scholar, and Byzantinist. Biography Krautheimer was born in Germany in 1897, th ...

. In 1959, he again replaced Krautheimer, this time at the Institute of Fine Arts,

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 ...

. From 1962 on, he was director of the

Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute of Art History Bibliotheca may refer to: * ''Bibliotheca'' (Pseudo-Apollodorus), a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends * ''Bibliotheca historica'', a first century BC work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus * ''Bibliotheca'' ( ...

in Rome. In 1974, he published, with Heydenreich, his most popular book, the 38th volume of the Pelican History of Art, entitled ''The Architecture in Italy: 1400-1600''. It presents a survey of Italian Renaissance architecture in the

Cinquecento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1500 to 1599 are collectively referred to as the Cinquecento (, ), from the Italian for the number 500, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1500. Cinquecento encompasses the s ...

, discussing the work of Donato Bramante, Giulio Romano,

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

, and

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...

, among others, as well as the various centers of architectural activity throughout Italy. Three years later, Lotz published a selection of essays entitled, ''Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture''.Massimo Bulgarelli, "Wolfgang Lotz e la storiografia dell’architettura del Rinascimento", In ''L’architettura del Rinascimento''. Milan 1997, pp. 223-228. He was elected president of the in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

and retired from the Bibliotheca Hertziana in 1980.

Select publications

*''Vignola-Studien: Beiträge zu einer Vignola-Monographie''. Würzburg-Aumühle: K. Triltsch, 1939. *"Die ovalen Kirchenräume des Cinquecento." ''Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte'', vol. 7 (1955), pp. 7–99. *''The Northern Renaissance''. New York: Abrams, 1955. *"Redefinitions of Style: Architecture in the Later 16th Century." ''College Art Journal'', vol. 17 (1958), pp. 129–39. *"Mannerism in Architecture. Changing Aspects". In ''The Renaissance and Mannerism – Studies in Western Art: Acts of the Twentieth International Congress of the History of Art II''. Princeton, N.J. 1963, pp. 239–246. *"Die Spanische Treppe. Architektur als Mittel der Diplomatie." In ''Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte'', vol. 12, 1969, pp. 39–94. *(with Ludwig H. Heydenreich), ''Architecture in Italy, 1400 to 1600''. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1974. *''Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture''. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977.

References

External links

Dictionary of Art Historians: Lotz, Wolfgang
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotz, Wolfgang (art historian) German art historians German male non-fiction writers 20th-century German historians 1912 births 1981 deaths People from Heilbronn German expatriates in Italy Max Planck Institute directors

Life and work

Select publications

References

Further reading

External links