) was an Austrian art historian

Art history

Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...

, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History

Vienna School of Art History

The Vienna School of Art History is a collective term used to describe the development of fundamental art-historical methods at the University of Vienna...

. Wickhoff studied at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

 under Alexander Conze

Alexander Conze

Alexander Christian Leopold Conze was a German archaeologist who specialized in ancient Greek art. He was a native of Hannover, and studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1863 he became a professor at the University of Halle, and from 1869 to 1877 worked at the University of Vienna, where he...

 and Moritz Thausing

Moritz Thausing

Moritz Thausing was an Austrian art historian, and counts among the founders of the Vienna School of Art History.- Life :...

. In 1879 he received a position at the k.k. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (today the Museum für angewandte Kunst) in Vienna, where he met Giovanni Morelli

Giovanni Morelli

Giovanni Morelli was an Italian art critic and political figure. As an art historian, he developed the "Morellian" technique of scholarship, identifying the characteristic "hands" of painters through scrutiny of diagnostic minor details that revealed artists' scarcely conscious shorthand and...

 and became interested in his theories of connoisseurship. In 1882 Wichoff began to teach at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

.

In 1895 Wickhoff published his major work, Die Wiener Genesis, a study of the development of Roman art

Roman art

Roman art has the visual arts made in Ancient Rome, and in the territories of the Roman Empire. Major forms of Roman art are architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work...

 from the time of Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

 to that of Constantine I

Constantine I

Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...

. The book was significant for its appreciation of both "high imperial" Roman art, and indeed also late antique

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

 art, both of which had previously, under the overwhelming influence of Johann Joachim Winckelmann

Johann Joachim Winckelmann

Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the difference between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art...

, been considered as stages of progressive decline following the achievements of Greek art. Wickhoff's study would prove to be of great importance for the later Spätrömische Kunstindustrie of Alois Riegl

Alois Riegl

Alois Riegl was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History...

, his younger contemporary at the Museum, which continued the project of rehabilitating late antique art. It also sparked the extended feud between Riegl and Wickhoff, on the one side, and Josef Strzygowski

Josef Strzygowski

Josef Strzygowski was a German art historian known for his theory on the influence of Early Christian Armenian architecture on the early Medieval architecture of Europe, outlined in his book, Die Baukunst der Armenier und Europa...

, on the other, concerning the origins of the late antique style.

Wickhoff's students included many of the major figures of the next generation of Viennese art history, including Max Dvořák

Max Dvorák

Max Dvořák was a Czech-born Austrian art historian...

, Walter Friedländer

Walter Friedländer

Walter Ferdinand Friedlaender was a German art historian.Born in Glogau, he was taught art history by Heinrich Wölfflin and others...

, Wilhelm Koehler, and Gustav Glück

Gustav Glück

Gustav Glück was an Austrian art historian, the author of several major books on Dutch art....

. He is buried on Isola di San Michele

Isola di San Michele

San Michele is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy.Originally a prison island, Napoleon's occupying forces decreed that Venetians could not bury their deceased on any of the main Venetians islands, but only on San Michele...

in Venice.

External links

• Wickhoff, Franz. in the Dictionary of Art Historians Lee Sorensen, ed.