Albrecht Drer and the Embodiment of Genius

During the nineteenth century, Albrecht Drers art, piety, and personal character were held up as models to inspire contemporary artists andit was hopedto return Germany to international artistic eminence. In this book, Jeffrey Chipps Smith explores Drers complex posthumous reception during the great century of museum building in Europe, with a particular focus on the artists role as a creative and moral exemplar for German artists and museum visitors. In an era when museums were emerging as symbols of civic, regional, and national identity, dozens of new national, princely, and civic museums began to feature portraits of Drer in their elaborate decorative programs embellishing the facades, grand staircases, galleries, and ceremonial spaces. Most of these arose in Germany and Austria, though examples can be seen as far away as St. Petersburg, Stockholm, London, and New York City. Probing the cultural, political, and educational aspirations and rivalries of these museums and their patrons, Smith traces how Drer was painted, sculpted, and prominently placed to accommodate the eras diverse needs and aspirations. He investigates what these portraits can tell us about the rise of a distinct canon of famous Renaissance and Baroque artistsaddressing the question of why Drer was so often paired with Raphael, who was considered to embody the greatness of Italian artand why, with the rise of German nationalism, Hans Holbein the Younger often replaced Raphael as Drers partner. Accessibly written and comprehensive in scope, this book sheds new light on museum building in the nineteenth century and the rise of art history as a discipline. It will appeal to specialists in nineteenth-century and early modern art, the history of museums and collecting, and art historiography.