DOI Artikel:
Vybíral, Jindřich: Alfred Woltmann and the History of Contemporary Art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73804#0014
Folia Historiae Artium
Seria Nowa, t. 22: 2024/PL ISSN 0071-6723
JINDRICH VYBiRAL
Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague
ALFRED WOLTMANN
AND THE HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ART
The protagonist of the present paper makes his appear-
ance in Czech art historiography primarily in connec-
tion with the public scandal he provoked in the autumn
of 1876. In his lecture on the subject of German Art in
Prague, Woltmann proclaimed that the aesthetic char-
acter of the Bohemian capital was almost exclusively the
work of German artists and the result of German cul-
tural influences. His statements sparked brawls between
Czech and German university students and even street
riots that had to be quelled by the police. No less seri-
ous were the effects that the lecture had on art-historical
discourse. By describing Czech artistic culture as deriva-
tive and provincial, Woltmann placed it in a problemat-
ic situation, the resolution of which became one of the
central topics of Czech art history. In opposition to his
conclusions, which purported to demonstrate the inferi-
ority of the Slavic tribe, Czech art scholarship worked to
assemble an image of spiritual and material culture that
could successfully challenge its German, or even Italian or
French, counterparts. Such a model of historical narrative
was, understandably, difficult to defend. Hence it comes
as no surprise that until very recently, Woltmann was, in
Czech historiography, portrayed negatively or completely
ignored.1
A PIONEER OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
IN ART HISTORY - 150 YEARS AGO
It was in 1873 that Alfred Woltmann (1841-1880) received
the position of a full professorship of art history at the
1 A. Woltmann, Deutsche Kunst in Prag, Leipzig 1877. See J. VY-
biral, 'What Is "Czech" in Art in Bohemia? Alfred Woltmann
and defensive mechanisms of Czech artistic historiography, Kun-
stchronik, 59, 2006, pp. 1-7.
university of Prague.2 Prior to this appointment, he had
achieved a reputation as one ofthe most capable and active
representatives of this discipline from the younger gener-
ation. He had studied art history at the universities of Ber-
lin, Munich, and Breslau, while deepening his erudition
through study trips to London, Paris, the Netherlands,
and Italy. From 1868 he had a position at the Polytechnic
in Karlsruhe. He entered the awareness of the scholarly
community quite early thanks to his two-volume mono-
graph on Hans Holbein the Younger, a development ofthe
topic of his dissertation from 1863.3 Dedicated to an artist
whose popularity in Germany at the time matched that
of Albrecht Durer, this publication formed a significant
contribution toward the shaping of a new, positivistic his-
tory of art. Though Woltmann did commit several errors
in it, which he had to correct in the second edition, his
work remains today one of the foundations for research
concerning Holbein. Anton Springer described it as 'the
best biography hitherto written about a German artist'.4
Woltmann also participated in the well-known congress
that discussed the question of the authenticity of the two
versions of Holbeins Madonna of the Burgermeister Mey-
er. The full significance that this discussion had for for-
mulating art history as an autonomous discipline, with its
2 'Amtlicher Theil', Wiener Zeitung, 1, 1873, p. 1; 'Professoren und
Lehrer-Ernennungen', Die Presse, 1, 1873, Abendblatt, p. 2. See
J. Horaćek, 'Alfred Woltmann', in Stoleti ustavu pro dejiny um-
ent na Filozoficke fakulte Univerzity Karlovy, eds R. Biegel,
R. Prahl, J. Bachtik, Praha 2020, pp. 68-70.
3 A. Woltmann, Holbein und seine Zeit, Leipzig 1866 and 1868; se-
cond edition 1874 and 1876; published in English as Holbein and
His Time, transl. F. E. Burnet, London 1872.
4 A. Springer, 'Hans Holbein und sein neuester Biograph', Zeit-
schrift fur bildende Kunst, 2, 1867, pp. 63-69, here pp. 63-64 (die
beste Biographie, die bisher uber einen deutschen Kunstler ge-
schrieben wurde).
Seria Nowa, t. 22: 2024/PL ISSN 0071-6723
JINDRICH VYBiRAL
Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague
ALFRED WOLTMANN
AND THE HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ART
The protagonist of the present paper makes his appear-
ance in Czech art historiography primarily in connec-
tion with the public scandal he provoked in the autumn
of 1876. In his lecture on the subject of German Art in
Prague, Woltmann proclaimed that the aesthetic char-
acter of the Bohemian capital was almost exclusively the
work of German artists and the result of German cul-
tural influences. His statements sparked brawls between
Czech and German university students and even street
riots that had to be quelled by the police. No less seri-
ous were the effects that the lecture had on art-historical
discourse. By describing Czech artistic culture as deriva-
tive and provincial, Woltmann placed it in a problemat-
ic situation, the resolution of which became one of the
central topics of Czech art history. In opposition to his
conclusions, which purported to demonstrate the inferi-
ority of the Slavic tribe, Czech art scholarship worked to
assemble an image of spiritual and material culture that
could successfully challenge its German, or even Italian or
French, counterparts. Such a model of historical narrative
was, understandably, difficult to defend. Hence it comes
as no surprise that until very recently, Woltmann was, in
Czech historiography, portrayed negatively or completely
ignored.1
A PIONEER OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
IN ART HISTORY - 150 YEARS AGO
It was in 1873 that Alfred Woltmann (1841-1880) received
the position of a full professorship of art history at the
1 A. Woltmann, Deutsche Kunst in Prag, Leipzig 1877. See J. VY-
biral, 'What Is "Czech" in Art in Bohemia? Alfred Woltmann
and defensive mechanisms of Czech artistic historiography, Kun-
stchronik, 59, 2006, pp. 1-7.
university of Prague.2 Prior to this appointment, he had
achieved a reputation as one ofthe most capable and active
representatives of this discipline from the younger gener-
ation. He had studied art history at the universities of Ber-
lin, Munich, and Breslau, while deepening his erudition
through study trips to London, Paris, the Netherlands,
and Italy. From 1868 he had a position at the Polytechnic
in Karlsruhe. He entered the awareness of the scholarly
community quite early thanks to his two-volume mono-
graph on Hans Holbein the Younger, a development ofthe
topic of his dissertation from 1863.3 Dedicated to an artist
whose popularity in Germany at the time matched that
of Albrecht Durer, this publication formed a significant
contribution toward the shaping of a new, positivistic his-
tory of art. Though Woltmann did commit several errors
in it, which he had to correct in the second edition, his
work remains today one of the foundations for research
concerning Holbein. Anton Springer described it as 'the
best biography hitherto written about a German artist'.4
Woltmann also participated in the well-known congress
that discussed the question of the authenticity of the two
versions of Holbeins Madonna of the Burgermeister Mey-
er. The full significance that this discussion had for for-
mulating art history as an autonomous discipline, with its
2 'Amtlicher Theil', Wiener Zeitung, 1, 1873, p. 1; 'Professoren und
Lehrer-Ernennungen', Die Presse, 1, 1873, Abendblatt, p. 2. See
J. Horaćek, 'Alfred Woltmann', in Stoleti ustavu pro dejiny um-
ent na Filozoficke fakulte Univerzity Karlovy, eds R. Biegel,
R. Prahl, J. Bachtik, Praha 2020, pp. 68-70.
3 A. Woltmann, Holbein und seine Zeit, Leipzig 1866 and 1868; se-
cond edition 1874 and 1876; published in English as Holbein and
His Time, transl. F. E. Burnet, London 1872.
4 A. Springer, 'Hans Holbein und sein neuester Biograph', Zeit-
schrift fur bildende Kunst, 2, 1867, pp. 63-69, here pp. 63-64 (die
beste Biographie, die bisher uber einen deutschen Kunstler ge-
schrieben wurde).