Theodor Hetzer

Theodor Hetzer (16 July 1890 – 27 December 1946) was a German art historian.

Biography

Born in Kharkiv, Hetzer studied art history, classical archaeology and philosophy in Freiburg with Wilhelm Vöge and in Berlin with Heinrich Wölfflin. His most important teacher in Berlin, however, became Friedrich Rintelen, with whom he received his doctorate from the University of Basel in 1915. He habilitated with Wilhelm Pinder at Leipzig University in 1923 and subsequently taught art history there, from 1929 as associate professor, and from 1935 to 1945 as full professor.

He was considered a noted connoisseur of the art of Giotto, Titian and Raphael, and was concerned with Dürer and the influences of German art on Italian painting of the 16th century. His writings also deal with Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt, the crisis of painting around 1800 with Francisco de Goya and the revival of painting with Paul Cézanne.

Hetzer was praised for his vivid discussions of works of art and art-historical epochs and styles, presented with sensitivity and power of language. Thus Hetzer states that he mostly wrote down what came to him "in the course of the years in insights and thoughts [...] In the texts on the individual paintings, it was my intention to clarify the order and beauty of this art."

In November 1933, he signed the Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State. In 1936 he was elected a member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences.

Hetzer succumbed to a heart condition on December 27, 1946, in his adopted home in Überlingen, near Lake Constance. The Theodor-Hetzer-Strasse in Überlingen is named after him.

Works

• Die frühen Gemälde des Tizian. Eine stilkritische Untersuchung (1920)
• Das deutsche Element in der italienischen Malerei des 16. Jahrhunderts (1929)
• Gedanken um Raffaels Form (1932)
• Tizian. Geschichte seiner Farbe (1935)

Collected works

His collected works appeared from 1981 to 1998 on a total of 4152 pages under the title: Writings in nine volumes. The edition was supervised by his student Gertrude Berthold and was provided with an editorial note for each volume. The introduction was written by his colleague and friend Werner Gross.

The contents of the individual volumes:

• Volume 1: Giotto – Grundlegung der neuzeitlichen Kunst: Giotto, seine Stellung in der europäischen Kunst; Betrachtungen zu Giottos Ognissanti Madonna in Florenz; Die Geschichte von Joachim u. Johanna in der Arena-Kapelle zu Padua; Über Giottos Einfachheit.
• Volume 2: Die Bildkunst Dürers: Über Dürers Gegenständlichkeit; Dürers dt. Form; Dürers Kleine Passion; seine Bildnisse; über Dürers Randzeichnungen im Gebetbuch Kaiser Maximilians; ein Marienbild Dürers.
• Volume 3: Das Ornamentale und die Gestalt: Das deutsche Element in der italienischen Malerei des 16. Jh's. und bei den einzelnen Künstlern (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raffael, Tizian, Correggio etc.). Die schöpferische Vereinigung von Antike und Norden in der Hochrenaissance; deutsche Maler des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts.
• Volume 4: Bild als Bau, Elemente der Bildgestaltung von Giotto bis Tiepolo: Über das Verhältnis der Malerei zur Architektur; vom Plastischen in der Malerei; Gedanken um Raffaels Form; die Sixtinische Madonna; die Fresken Tiepolos in der Würzburger Residenz.
• Volume 5: Rubens und Rembrandt; Rembrandt und Giotto.
• Volume 6: Italienische Architektur im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert; Erinnerungen an italienische Architektur.
• Volume 7: Tizian: Geschichte seiner Farbe, die frühen Gemälde, Bildnisse.
• Volume 8: Venezianische Malerei von den Anfängen bis zum Tode Tintorettos.
• Volume 9: Geschichte des Bildes von der Antike bis Cézanne: Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Altertums; Studien zur Geschichte des Bildes; Goya und die bildende Kunst; Goethes italienische Reise; Cézanne-Notizen; über die Fläche in der Malerei; vom großen Kunstwerk; Michelangelo-Notizen; Mantegna; Donatello; Claude Lorrain; Gedenkrede Klingers.

References

• Gross, Werner (1972). "Hetzer, Theodor". In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). 9. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, p. 36.

External links

• Works by Theodor Hetzer at German National Library