Jindřich Vybíral

Beauty, Design Principles and Money: The Art Historian Alfred Woltmann and the Decorative Arts Reform Movement

Alfred Woltmann (1841–1880) was one of the first university professors of art history in 19th century Germany. His main professional interest was the painting of the German Renaissance. In 1866 and 1868 he published a two-volume monography on Hans Holbein the Younger, which for several decades to come served as the starting point for all research on this artist. Holbein Jr.‘s ornamental compositions and designs for metal objects also awakened his interest in decorative art. During his stay in England in 1866, he was intrigued by the project of reforming the decorative arts through the practical involvement of artists with manufacturers, as developed by Henry Cole and his circle. Woltmann then published a series of papers, in which he promoted the English model of reconciling art and industry as an inspiration for businessmen and public institutions in Prussia and the other German states.He provided the decorative arts reform movement and improvement of Germany’s aesthetic standards with two vital impulses: first, he reported extensively on British applied art reform and the work of the South Kensington Museum, and second, he contributed significantly to the discovery of the German Renaissance as a model for the formation of a new, nationally connoted decorative art.

Author's email:

jindrich.vybiral@umprum.cz

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54759/ART-2025-0402



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