Franz Mertens (art historian)

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Franz Mertens (born March 2, 1808 in Düsseldorf , † May 30, 1897 in Berlin ) was a German architect and art historian.

Life

Franz Mertens studied architecture together with Franz Kugler and Ferdinand von Quast at the Berlin Bauakademie ; all three are among the founders of modern research in the history of architecture. For Franz Mertens, the Gothic became a life theme. Together with Ludwig Lohde, he and Ludwig Lohde traced back what had been known as the old German style in art and architecture in Germany until then, with studies in the Île-de-France, to the corresponding models in France. However, his publications on this subject in the 1840s went largely unnoticed in Germany. After 1846 he was back in Berlin and worked there as an architect. It was only after 1860 that his theses found certain recognition in circles of Berlin architects. Mertens fought until the end of his life, now impoverished and without adequate employment, in his publications for the recognition of his research results. The last publications from his hand appeared a few years after his death.

Fonts

  • Paris in terms of architectural history in the Middle Ages, Allgemeine Bauzeitung 8, 1843, 159–167, 253–260.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Mertens, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect and art historian
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1897
Place of death Berlin