Wilhelm von Bode
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm von Bode was a German
art historian
and curator
. Born Arnold William Bode in Calvörde
, he was ennobled
in 1913. He was the creator and first curator of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, now called the Bode Museum
in his honor, in 1904.
, but took an interest in art during his university years. While practicing law in Braunschweig
he systematically rearranged the ducal art collections, and visited a number of museums and private collections in Belgium
, the Netherlands
, and Italy
. After studies in art history in Berlin and Vienna
, he received his doctorate from the University of Leipzig
in 1870.
In 1871 Bode participated in the so-called "Holbein convention" in Dresden
, at which a number of prominent art historians convened to determine which of two versions of Hans Holbein the Younger
's Meyer Madonna was the original work.
In 1872 he took a position as an assistant curator of sculpture
in the royal museums in Berlin, and became director of the department in 1883. He took over the painting
department in 1890, and became general director of Berlin museums in 1905. Many of his efforts were devoted to the new Kaiser Friedrich Museum on Museum Island
; his close relationship with the imperial family, his political astuteness, and his relationships with artists and collectors throughout Europe enabled to amass a major collection for the museum. In the 1890s Berlin was far behind Munich
and Dresden
in its art collections, but with the enthusiastic participation of Wilhelm II, Bode was able to shift the center of the German art world to the capital. He was also in charge of rebuilding the museums of Strasbourg
, whose collections had been entirely destroyed in 1870 by prussian bombardments during the Franco-Prussian War
. Bode occupied this post from 1889 to 1914, establishing the Musée des Beaux-Arts
and the Cabinet des estampes et des dessins
as well as setting the grounds of part of the current Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
's collections.
Bode's writings on a wide variety of topics in art history, particularly Italian Renaissance
art, were widely influential, and remain key texts in the field. His autobiography, Mein Leben
, was published posthumously in 1930.
, which had been purchased by the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin
, under the belief that is was by Leonardo da Vinci
, may have actually been created by the English sculptor, Richard Cockle Lucas
. von Bode, the general manager of the Prussian Art Collections for the Berlin Museum, had spotted the bust in a London gallery and purchased it for a few pounds. Bode was convinced that the bust was by da Vinci and the Berlin Museum authorities, and the German public, were delighted to have "snatched a great art treasure from under the very noses" of the British art world.
Shortly afterwards, The Times
ran an article claiming that the bust was the work of Lucas, having been commissioned to produce it from a painting. Lucas's son, Albert, then came forward and swore under oath that the story was correct and that he had helped his father to make it. Albert was able to explain how the layers of wax had been built up from old candle ends; he also described how his father would stuff various debris, including newspapers, inside the bust. When the Berlin museum staff removed the base they found the debris, just as Albert had described it, including a letter dated in the 1840s.
Despite this evidence, Bode continued to claim that his original attribution was correct. To support this, he displayed the Flora bust among a selection of Lucas's lesser work – this exhibition rather backfired, however, as it showed that Lucas had been regularly making wax sculptures inspired by the great works of previous times.
Various claims and counter-claims have been put forward about the bust, from its being an outright forgery to being a genuine 16th century piece (albeit not by da Vinci). Scientific examination has been inconclusive and unhelpful in dating the bust, although it is accepted as having at least some connection with Lucas. The bust remains on display in what is now the Bode Museum
labelled "England", "19th Century" with a question mark.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
art historian
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
and curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
. Born Arnold William Bode in Calvörde
Calvörde
Calvörde is a municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approx. 15 km northwest from Haldensleben between the Ohre river and the Midland Canal...
, he was ennobled
German nobility
The German nobility was the elite hereditary ruling class or aristocratic class from ca. 500 B.C. to the Holy Roman Empire and what is now Germany.-Principles of German nobility:...
in 1913. He was the creator and first curator of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, now called the Bode Museum
Bode Museum
The Bode Museum is one of the group of museums on the Museum Island in Berlin, Germany; it is a historically preserved building. The museum was designed by architect Ernst von Ihne and completed in 1904...
in his honor, in 1904.
Career
Bode studied law at the Universities of Göttingen and BerlinHumboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
, but took an interest in art during his university years. While practicing law in Braunschweig
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
he systematically rearranged the ducal art collections, and visited a number of museums and private collections in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. After studies in art history in Berlin and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, he received his doctorate from the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
in 1870.
In 1871 Bode participated in the so-called "Holbein convention" in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, at which a number of prominent art historians convened to determine which of two versions of Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
's Meyer Madonna was the original work.
In 1872 he took a position as an assistant curator of sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
in the royal museums in Berlin, and became director of the department in 1883. He took over the painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
department in 1890, and became general director of Berlin museums in 1905. Many of his efforts were devoted to the new Kaiser Friedrich Museum on Museum Island
Museum Island
Museum Island is the name of the northern half of an island in the Spree river in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, the site of the old city of Cölln...
; his close relationship with the imperial family, his political astuteness, and his relationships with artists and collectors throughout Europe enabled to amass a major collection for the museum. In the 1890s Berlin was far behind Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
in its art collections, but with the enthusiastic participation of Wilhelm II, Bode was able to shift the center of the German art world to the capital. He was also in charge of rebuilding the museums of Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, whose collections had been entirely destroyed in 1870 by prussian bombardments during the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
. Bode occupied this post from 1889 to 1914, establishing the Musée des Beaux-Arts
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg is the old masters paintings collection of the city of Strasbourg, located in the Alsace region of France. The museum is housed in the first and second floors of the baroque Palais Rohan since 1898...
and the Cabinet des estampes et des dessins
Cabinet des estampes et des dessins (Strasbourg)
The Cabinet des estampes et des dessins is a museum in Strasbourg in the Bas-Rhin department of France. It is dedicated to engravings and drawings , but also woodcuts and lithographies, covering a period of five centuries from the 14th to the 19th. Graphic art since 1870 is displayed in the Musée...
as well as setting the grounds of part of the current Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
The Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame is the city of Strasbourg's museum for Upper Rhenish fine and decorative arts from the early Middle Ages until 1681...
's collections.
Bode's writings on a wide variety of topics in art history, particularly Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
art, were widely influential, and remain key texts in the field. His autobiography, Mein Leben
Mein Leben
Mein Leben is the title of several German autobiographies, including those of the following people :...
, was published posthumously in 1930.
The "Flora" bust
In 1910, it was revealed that a bust of FloraFlora (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of flowers and the season of spring. While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime...
, which had been purchased by the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, under the belief that is was by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, may have actually been created by the English sculptor, Richard Cockle Lucas
Richard Cockle Lucas
Richard Cockle Lucas was an English sculptor and photographer.-Career:Lucas was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, the son of Richard Lucas and his wife, Martha Sutton ....
. von Bode, the general manager of the Prussian Art Collections for the Berlin Museum, had spotted the bust in a London gallery and purchased it for a few pounds. Bode was convinced that the bust was by da Vinci and the Berlin Museum authorities, and the German public, were delighted to have "snatched a great art treasure from under the very noses" of the British art world.
Shortly afterwards, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
ran an article claiming that the bust was the work of Lucas, having been commissioned to produce it from a painting. Lucas's son, Albert, then came forward and swore under oath that the story was correct and that he had helped his father to make it. Albert was able to explain how the layers of wax had been built up from old candle ends; he also described how his father would stuff various debris, including newspapers, inside the bust. When the Berlin museum staff removed the base they found the debris, just as Albert had described it, including a letter dated in the 1840s.
Despite this evidence, Bode continued to claim that his original attribution was correct. To support this, he displayed the Flora bust among a selection of Lucas's lesser work – this exhibition rather backfired, however, as it showed that Lucas had been regularly making wax sculptures inspired by the great works of previous times.
Various claims and counter-claims have been put forward about the bust, from its being an outright forgery to being a genuine 16th century piece (albeit not by da Vinci). Scientific examination has been inconclusive and unhelpful in dating the bust, although it is accepted as having at least some connection with Lucas. The bust remains on display in what is now the Bode Museum
Bode Museum
The Bode Museum is one of the group of museums on the Museum Island in Berlin, Germany; it is a historically preserved building. The museum was designed by architect Ernst von Ihne and completed in 1904...
labelled "England", "19th Century" with a question mark.
See also
- Article on German Wikipedia "Wachsbüste der Flora (Wax bust of Flora)"
Major works
- Vorderasiatische Knüpfteppiche aus älterer Zeit. Leipzig
- Geschichte der deutschen Plastik, 1887
- Rembrandt, 8 volumes, with C. Hofstede de Groot, 1897–1905
- Der Cicerone: Eine Anleitung zum Genuss der Kunstwerke Italiens von Jacob Burckhardt. 1900- 1901
- Kunst und Kunstgewerbe am Ende des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1901.
- Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, 1902.
- Die Meister der holländischen und vlämischen Malerschulen, 1917.
- Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, 1921.
- Sandro Botticelli, 1921.
- Die italienischen Bronzestatuetten der Renaissance, 1922.
- Die italienische Plastik, 1922.
- Mein Leben, 2 volumes, 1930.
Works in English translation
- Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto Beit: Introduction and Descriptions by Dr. Wilhelm Bode, 1913.
- The Collection of Pictures of the Late Herr A. de Ridder in his Villa at Schönberg near Cronberg in the Taunus: Catalogued and Described by Wilhelm Bode, translated by Harry Virgin, 1913.
- Antique Rugs from the Near East, translated by R. M. Riefstahl, 1922.
- Sandro Botticelli, translated by F. Renfield and F. L. Rudston Brown, 1925.
- Florentine sculptors of the Renaissance, translated by Jessie Haynes, 1928.