Heinrich Wölfflin’s Classic Patterns of the Renaissance

Abstract: This essay examines Heinrich Wölfflin’s patterns of judgement in his pioneering art-historical study Classic Art, first published in 1899. By using the anti-historicist concept of the “classic”, he systematically withdraws the art of the High Renaissance from historical change in order to erect it as a protective shield against the transience of unclassic modernism and contemporary life. This proto-structuralist act of creating order by means of pattern comparisons in the timeless realm of beauty conceives the art historian as both an intellectual aristocrat with artistic ambitions and a conservator of the eternities of classic art.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Heinrich Wölfflin’s Classic Patterns of the Renaissance ; volume:87 ; number:1 ; year:2024 ; pages:120-134 ; extent:15 ; Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte ; 87, Heft 1 (2024), 120-134 (gesamt 15)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Tauber, Christine

Further information

• DOI: 10.1515/zkg-2024-1008
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2024030513271320697253
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:56 AM CEST