Julius von Schlosser on Vasari: a translation from Die Kunstliteratur (1924)

Abstract

Although Julius Schlosser is well known by name and as a source for bibliographical references, very few art historians are familiar with the substance of his forty year teaching career which inspired the likes of Kris, Kurz, Bodonyi, Gombrich and many others. Die Kunstliteratur of 1924 became his fifth and final such handbook, and was published with the intention to elucidate the pre-history of the history of art as an academic discipline. It is natural that Giorgio Vasari has a place at the core of such a story. However, Schlosser possessed an unrivalled knowledge of the relevant written and theoretical sources, and his unusually consistent approach found Lorenzo Ghiberti to be the actual founder of the subject and Winckelmann to have finally overcome the relatively pernicious influence of Vasari. This chapter from the centre of his book therefore still today remains the best critical account of Vasari’s writings from a broader point of view.