Albert von Zahn

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Albert von Zahn

Albert von Zahn (born April 10, 1836 in Leipzig , †  June 16, 1873 in Marienbad ) was a German art historian , museum director and editor of the "Yearbooks for Art History ".

Career and impact

Albert von Zahn went to the Dresden Art Academy in 1854 , where he was a student of Eduard Bendemann and Gustav Jäger . However, in 1858 he switched to studying art history. In 1867/68 he gave lectures on the history of painting from the 13th to the 17th century at the University of Leipzig . In 1868 he became director of the Weimar Museum , and in 1870 a consultant in the General Directorate of the Royal Collections for Art and Science in Dresden . In addition, his main occupation was the publication of the "Yearbooks for Art History" which he founded.

His scientific topics included a. the work of Albrecht Dürer . He also played a leading role in the Dresden Holbein dispute . The Holbeintagung organized for this, which took place from September 1st to 3rd, 1871 in Dresden, goes back to his initiative.

From September 8, 2016 to January 8, 2017, the exhibition "Albert von Zahn - Border Crosser Between Art and Science" took place in the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts .

The Dürer's anecdote

In his obituary for Albert von Zahn in the “Yearbooks for Art Science” (see web links), his colleague Moritz Thausing also describes an anecdote which, despite all his learned rigor, identifies von Zahn as an art-historical humorist. After a public dispute about the authenticity of some portraits ascribed to Dürer, von Zahn had sent an envelope to his fellow discussant Thausing in August 1871, in which Dürer seemed to thank his defender Thausing personally. The letter was written in Dürer's handwriting in contemporary language. On the occasion of the Dresden Holbeintagung in early September 1871, von Zahn explained his art-historical prank to his colleague. Thausing writes in his obituary: "And so may the joking document also serve other friends of the deceased as a reminder of a side of Zahn's [sic!] Being, which was not the least amiable because he so seldom used to return it."

The alleged Dürer letter in early New High German is attached to the obituary as a facsimile:

  • Excerpt: "And I thank you very much, that you have done so clerically the awssgeschnitte head half, that I have not torn the contterfett yet." (Lines 9-12)

  • Addressing: "DEM Fürsichtigen / hochachtparn vnd erbern / Hern Morizen Thawsingh // zw Wienn / in Austria // inn des Ertzhertzog / Albrecht palast / awff der pastey."

Fonts (selection)

  • Dürer's art theory and its relationship to the Renaissance . Leipzig 1866. ( online )
  • The Dürer manuscripts in the British Museum . In: Year books of art history (A. von Zahn, ed.), Volume 1, Leipzig 1868, pp. 1–22. ( online ) - Commented by Moritz Thausing : Notes on the Dürer's manuscripts in the British Museum , ibid., pp. 183-184. ( online )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Press release on the exhibition on the website of the Leipziger Volkszeitung. - Review of the exhibition catalog in the Leipziger Internet Zeitung.
  2. ↑ See also the article “Post from Dürer” in the features blog Der Umblätterer (published on May 27, 2010), from which this information is taken.
  3. ↑ Moriz Thausing: Obituary to Albert von Zahn. In: Yearbooks for Art History. Volume 6, Issue 3. Leipzig: EA Seemann 1873, p. 223.
personal data
SURNAME Zahn, Albert von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian, museum director and editor of the "Yearbooks for Art History"
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1873
Place of death Marienbad