Wilhelm von Bode
Wilhelm von Bode | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 1 March 1929 | (aged 83)
Nationality | German |
Wilhelm von Bode (10 December 1845 – 1 March 1929) was a German art historian and museum curator. Born Arnold Wilhelm Bode in Calvörde, and known as Wilhelm Bode for most of his career, he was ennobled in 1913,[1] and thereafter adopted the aristocratic "von". He was the creator and first curator of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, now called the Bode Museum in his honor, in 1904.
He wrote a number of books, many large and authoritative studies of the art of the Italian Renaissance and the Dutch and Flemish Baroque, but also other subjects.
Career
Bode studied law at the Universities of
In 1871 Bode participated in the so-called "Holbein convention" in Dresden, at which a number of prominent art historians convened to determine which of two versions of Hans Holbein the Younger's Meyer Madonna was the original work.
In 1872 he took a position as an assistant curator of sculpture in the royal museums in Berlin, and became director of the department in 1883.
Bode's writings on a wide variety of topics in art history, particularly Italian Renaissance art, were widely influential, and remain key texts in the field. His autobiography, Mein Leben, was published posthumously in 1930.
The "Flora" bust
In 1910, it was revealed that a bust of
Shortly afterwards, The Times ran an article claiming that the bust was the work of Lucas, having been commissioned to produce it from a painting. Lucas's son, Albert, then came forward and swore under oath that the story was correct and that he had helped his father to make it. Albert was able to explain how the layers of wax had been built up from old candle ends; he also described how his father would stuff various debris, including newspapers, inside the bust. When the Berlin museum staff removed the base they found the debris, just as Albert had described it, including a letter dated in the 1840s.[6]
Despite this evidence, Bode continued to claim that his original attribution was correct. To support this, he displayed the Flora bust among a selection of Lucas's lesser work – this exhibition rather backfired, however, as it showed that Lucas had been regularly making wax sculptures inspired by the great works of previous times.
Major works
- Vorderasiatische Knüpfteppiche aus älterer Zeit. Leipzig
- Studien zur Geschichte der hollandischen Malerei, Braunschweig, 1883[10]
- Geschichte der deutschen Plastik, 1887
- Rembrandt, 8 volumes, with C. Hofstede de Groot, 1897–1905
- Der Cicerone: Eine Anleitung zum Genuss der Kunstwerke Italiens von Jacob Burckhardt. 1900– 1901
- Kunst und Kunstgewerbe am Ende des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1901.
- Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, 1902.
- Die Meister der holländischen und vlämischen Malerschulen, 1917.
- Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, 1921.
- Sandro Botticelli, 1921.
- Die italienischen Bronzestatuetten der Renaissance, 1922.
- Die italienische Plastik, 1922.
- Mein Leben, 2 volumes, 1930.
Works in English translation
- Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto Beit: Introduction and Descriptions by Dr. Wilhelm Bode, 1913.
- The Collection of Pictures of the Late Herr A. de Ridder in his Villa at Schönberg near Cronberg in the Taunus: Catalogued and Described by Wilhelm Bode, translated by Harry Virgin, 1913.
- Antique Rugs from the Near East, translated by R. M. Riefstahl, 1922.
- Sandro Botticelli, translated by F. Renfield and F. L. Rudston Brown, 1925.
- Florentine sculptors of the Renaissance, translated by Jessie Haynes, 1928.
References
- ^ a b "Dr. Von Bode Dead; Noted Art Expert". The New York Times. 2 March 1929.
- ^ This work was later expanded with the help of Moritz Julius Binder to the work on Hals known as Bode-Binder
- JSTOR 427746.
- JSTOR 40470641.
- ^ "Albert Durer Lucas". Burlington Paintings. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7506-4205-7.
- ^ "Not a Leonardo! Clue to wax bust's attribution lies inside a sperm whale". www.theartnewspaper.com. 15 April 2021.
- ^ "Léonard de Vinci n'a définitivement pas sculpté le buste de la Flora | CNRS". www.cnrs.fr.
- ^ Härig, Beatrice (February 2010). "Flora's duel for waxy smile". Monumente (in German). Retrieved 15 December 2010.
- ^ His work on Dutch painters included catalogs of paintings by the leading artists Rembrandt and Frans Hals
External links
- Media related to Wilhelm von Bode at Wikimedia Commons
- Entry at the Dictionary of Art Historians Archived 22 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- Bode Museum (official website) Archived 27 November 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- Works by Wilhelm Bode at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Wilhelm von Bode at Internet Archive
- Works by Wilhelm von Bode at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Newspaper clippings about Wilhelm von Bode in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW