The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
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List of the most influential people in Education,
#2201
Victor Kord
#133037
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Victor George Kord is an American painter and educator. He currently maintains a studio and exhibits in New York City. He previously served as art department chair for several major universities, and remains professor emeritus of painting at Cornell University Department of Art.
Go to Profile#2202
Martin Hochleitner
#105469
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Martin Hochleitner is an Austrian art historian and since 2012, curator of the Salzburg Museum. Life Born in Salzburg, Hochleitner completed his studies in classical archaeology at the University of Salzburg in 1992 with the title of Mag. phil. In 2002, he completed his studies in art history at the University of Salzburg with the title Dr. phil.. He wrote his dissertation on the subject of Fundamentals and Reception of Sculptural Forms of Appearance in 20th Century Upper Austrian Art
Go to Profile#2203
Alexander Mouret
#178744
Overall Influence
Alexander Mouret is a Dutch lawyer and cultural entrepreneur, with a special interest in the interplay between technology and the visual arts. He is one of the founders and was, until 2021, director of the Leiden International Film Festival and founding director of “Brave New World”; a conference that aims to bridge the gap between academia and the arts and to look at how future technologies will impact human life. In September 2021, Mouret announced that he would step down as director of the Leiden International Film Festival, stating that, after his 16 year tenure, it was time for a new generation of film-lovers at the helm of the festival.
Go to Profile#2204
Debora L. Silverman
#116418
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Debora Leah Silverman is professor and University of California Presidential Chair in Modern European History, Art and Culture at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her PhD from Princeton University in 1983. She is a specialist in the history of Art Nouveau. She was a Guggenheim fellow in 1992 in fine arts research.
Go to Profile#2205
Charles Harrison
#178931
Overall Influence
1942 - 2009 (67 years)
Charles Townsend Harrison , BA Hons , MA , PhD was a UK art historian who taught Art History for many years and was Emeritus Professor of History and Theory of Art at the Open University. Although he denied being an artist himself, he was a full participant and catalyst in the Art and Language group.
Go to Profile#2206
Bette Gordon
#172826
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Bette Gordon is an American filmmaker and professor at Columbia University School of the Arts. She is best known for her films Variety and Handsome Harry both of which received critical acclaim in North America and abroad.
Go to Profile#2207
Tom Tait
#173911
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (89 years)
George Thomas "Tom" Tait is an American professor, author, and volleyball coach. Tait founded both the Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball and Penn State Nittany Lions men's volleyball teams beginning in 1974. Since then, the teams have won a combined 9 NCAA national championships . Because of his success in developing the Penn State programs, he has been known as the "founding father" of Penn State volleyball.
Go to Profile#2208
André Bisson
#191078
Overall Influence
1929 - 2019 (90 years)
André Bisson, OC was a Canadian professor and businessman. Biography Bisson received an MBA from Harvard University. He became the Director of Business Administration at Université Laval after serving as a professor. He was also the Director of the Canadian Bankers Institute, and Managing Director of Scotiabank.
Go to Profile#2209
Anna Kortelainen
#87361
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Anna Taina Aleksandra Kortelainen is a Finnish scholar, art historian and non-fiction writer. Life Kortelainen defended her doctoral dissertation in 2002 at the University of Turku about Albert Edelfelt. She teaches art history at the University of Helsinki.
Go to Profile#2210
Charlotte Eyerman
#175129
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Charlotte Nalle Eyerman is an American museum director and curator and expert in 19th century French art. She was appointed Director and Chief Curator of the JPMorgan Chase art collection in 2017. She is a member of the board of trustees at Accountability Lab. Eyerman has also served as Director and chief executive officer of the Monterey Museum of Art , and as Director of the Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills.
Go to Profile#2211
Robert Todd
#190241
Overall Influence
1963 - 2018 (55 years)
Robert Todd was an American filmmaker, known primarily for his short poetic experimental films. He was a beloved Professor in the Film Department at Emerson College. His films have screened at international film festivals including The Rotterdam International Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, The Ann Arbor Film Festival, Media City Festival, and others.
Go to Profile#2212
Larry S. Miller
#190119
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Larry S. Miller is an American-born serial entrepreneur, educator, music producer, consultant, and public policy advisor based in New York City. He is currently clinical associate professor of music business at New York University and the leader of Miller and Co., a media and tech consultancy he founded in 2009. He is a frequent commentator on music, copyright, and licensing issues whose views have been featured on CNBC, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, and Billboard.
Go to Profile#2213
Laura Malosetti Costa
#164490
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Laura Malosetti Costa is a Uruguayan-born Argentine social and cultural anthropologist, researcher, art historian, and essayist. She is also a curator of art exhibitions and the author of several books on Latin American art. She was recognized with the Konex Award in 2006 and 2016.
Go to Profile#2214
Dominga Sotomayor Castillo
#191040
Overall Influence
1985 - Present (41 years)
Dominga Sotomayor Castillo is a Chilean filmmaker. Biography She graduated from Universidad Católica de Chile with a degree on Audiovisual Direction in 2007, followed by a Master at the Escola de Cinema y Audiovisuals de Catalunya in Film direction. She directed several short films that were shown at festivals internationally. Her first feature film, Thursday Till Sunday was developed as part of the program La Résidence by Cinéfondation / Festival de Cannes, and premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it was awarded the Hivos Tiger Award.
Go to Profile#2215
Enzo Carli
#123432
Overall Influence
1910 - 1999 (89 years)
Enzo Carli was an Italian art historian and art critic. Life Born in Pisa, he studied at the University of Pisa under Mario Salmi and Matteo Marangoni. His graduation thesis was on the sculptor Tino di Camaino . In 1937 he was made superintendent of Aquila and two years later moved to Siena, where he taught art history at the University of Siena and was director of the Pinacoteca Nazionale until 1952 and of the Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana del Duomo until 1973.
Go to Profile#2216
Arthur Kingsley Porter
1883 - 1933 (50 years)
Arthur Kingsley Porter was an American archaeologist, art historian, and medievalist. He was chair of Harvard University’s art history department, and was the first American scholar of Romanesque architecture to achieve international recognition. Porter disappeared in 1933. His most significant scholarly contributions were his revolutionary studies and insights into the spread of Romanesque sculpture. His study of Lombard architecture also remains the first in its class. He left his Cambridge mansion, Elmwood, to Harvard University, where it has served as the official residence of Harvard's p...
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Henry Maundrell
1665 - 1701 (36 years)
Henry Maundrell was an academic at Oxford University and later a Church of England clergyman, who served from 20 December 1695 as chaplain to the Levant Company in Syria. His Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter A.D. 1697 , which had its origins in the diary he carried with him on his Easter pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1697, has become an often reprinted "minor travel classic." It was included in compilations of travel accounts from the mid-18th century, and was translated into three additional languages: French , Dutch and German . By 1749, the seventh edition was printed.
Go to Profile#2218
Charles Hanford Henderson
1861 - 1941 (80 years)
Charles Hanford Henderson was an American educator and author. Biography Born in Philadelphia, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1882; was lecturer at the Franklin Institute 1883–86; Professor of Physics and Chemistry in the Philadelphia Manual Training School 1889–91, principal 1893–95; Ph.D. at Zurich in 1892; lecturer on education at Harvard 1897–98; and director Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, 1898–99.
Go to Profile#2219
Henry Sylvester Jacoby
1857 - 1955 (98 years)
Henry Sylvester Jacoby was an American educator, born at Springtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, He was graduated from Lehigh University in 1877 and during the season of 1878 was connected with the topographical corps of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. During 1879–85, he was chief draftsman in the United States Engineer's Office in Memphis, Tenn. In 1886, he returned to Lehigh, where until 1890 he was instructor of civil engineering; he then accepted a call to Cornell University, where in 1897 he became professor of bridge engineering. Professor Jacoby was a fellow of the American Ass...
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William H. Bennett
1910 - 1980 (70 years)
William Hunter Bennett was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 until his death. Bennett was born in Taber, Alberta, Canada. He attended the School of Agriculture in Raymond, Alberta, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in agriculture from Utah State University in the US, followed by a Ph.D. in agriculture from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He joined the faculty of USU as a professor of agronomy.
Go to Profile#2221
Richard Malcolm Johnston
1822 - 1898 (76 years)
Richard Malcolm Johnston was an American author. Biography Johnson was born in Powelton, Hancock County, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister, and his early education was received at a country school and finished at Mercer University. After graduating there he spent a year teaching and then took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1843. In 1857, he accepted an appointment to the chair of belles-lettres and oratory at the University of Georgia in Athens, retaining it until the opening of the Civil War, when he began a school for boys on his farm near Sparta. This he kept going during the war, serving also for a time on the staff of Confederate general Joseph E.
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Mary Bigelow Ingham
1832 - 1923 (91 years)
Mary Bigelow Ingham was an American author, educator, and religious worker. Dedicated to teaching, missionary work, and temperance reform, she served as professor of French and belles-lettres in the Ohio Wesleyan College; presided over and addressed the first public meeting ever held in Cleveland conducted exclusively by religious women; co-founded the Western Reserve School of Design ; and was a charter member of the order of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Go to Profile#2223
Julius Lange
1838 - 1896 (58 years)
Julius Henrik Lange was a Danish art historian and critic. Life In 1858, he began his studies at the University of Copenhagen. A few years later, he accompanied a wealthy gentleman to Italy and, while there, developed an interest in art history. In 1870, he became a lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and, a year later, transferred to the University. In 1877, he became a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
Go to Profile#2224
Srbui Lisitsian
1893 - 1979 (86 years)
Srbuhi Stepanova Lisitsian was an Armenian-Soviet ethnographer known for her development of a novel mathematical method for describing folk dance precisely using film techniques. Lisitsian spent her career at the Armenian Institute of Archeology and Ethnology as an ethnologist, after earning her Ph.D. at the Armenian Institute of History. In 1980, the Armenian Institute of Archeology and Ethnology was renamed after her and her father, another noted ethnologist.
Go to Profile#2225
Guido Kaschnitz von Weinberg
1890 - 1958 (68 years)
Guido Kaschnitz von Weinberg was an Austrian-German archaeologist and art historian. He was the husband of writer Marie Luise Kaschnitz. He studied at the University of Vienna, where one of his influences was art historian Max Dvořák. From 1910 to 1913 he took part in excavations in Dalmatia and participated in study trips to Greece, North Africa and Egypt. In 1913 he obtained his doctorate from Vienna with a dissertation-thesis on Greek vase painting. After performing military service in World War I, he worked for several years in Munich.
Go to Profile#2226
Justino Fernández
1904 - 1972 (68 years)
Justino Fernández García was a researcher, historian and art critic who is particularly known for his work documenting and critiquing Mexican art of the 20th century. Fernandez studied and developed his career with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as a protégé of Manuel Toussaint. Then the latter died in 1955, Fernandez took over as head of the Aesthetic Research Institute at UNAM, where he would develop the most of his writing and research until his death. Fernandez’s work was recognized by the Mexican government with the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes in 1969.
Go to Profile#2227
Karel Domin
1882 - 1953 (71 years)
Karel Domin was a Czech botanist and politician. After gymnasium school studies in Příbram, he studied botany at the Charles University in Prague, and graduated in 1906. Between 1911 and 1913 he published several important articles on Australian taxonomy. In 1916 he was named as professor of botany. Domin specialised in phytogeography, geobotany and plant taxonomy. He became a member at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, published many scientific works and founded a botany institute at the university. The Domin scale, a commonly used means of classifying a standard area by the number of pl...
Go to Profile#2228
Henry Meade Bland
1863 - 1931 (68 years)
Henry Meade Bland was an American educator and poet who became California Poet Laureate in 1929 after succeeding California's first Poet Laureate, Ina Coolbrith. Early life and education Bland was born on April 21, 1863, in Fairfield, California. He had an undergraduate and M.A. degree from University of the Pacific, and 1895, and a Ph.D from Stanford University in 1890. He worked as a teacher and school administrator for 15 years at schools in Los Gatos, Santa Clara, and San Jose, before joining the San Jose Normal School in 1899 to teach English. He remained at California State Normal Schoo...
Go to Profile#2229
Erich Everth
1878 - 1934 (56 years)
Erich Everth was a German art historian, journalist and scientist of newspaper and cultivation. He was the first ordinary professor for Journalism in Germany and directed from 1926 to 1933 the Institute for Journalism at the University of Leipzig. Alongside Otto Groth and Emil Dovifat Everth is one of the greatest German scientists for Journalism. With the Rise to power of the Nazis 1933 he was forced to retire and died soon after in sickness and bitterness.
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Edward Abbey
1927 - 1989 (62 years)
Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups, and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire.
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Lois Lampe
1896 - 1978 (82 years)
Lois Lampe was an American botanist and educator. She taught at various levels for nearly 50 years at the Ohio State University before retiring and becoming assistant professor emerita in 1966. She was a member of six scientific societies and four honors societies during her teaching career.
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Hulda Margaret Lyttle
1889 - 1983 (94 years)
Hulda Margaret Lyttle Frazier was an American nurse educator and hospital administrator who spent most of her career in Nashville, Tennessee at Meharry Medical College School of Nursing and affiliated Hubbard Hospital. Lyttle advocated for the modernization and professionalization of African American nurses' training programs, and improved practice standards in hospitals that served African Americans.
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Charles Nisbet
1736 - 1804 (68 years)
Charles Nisbet was a Scottish-American academic and churchman, and the first Principal of Dickinson College. Life Charles Nisbet was born in Haddington, Scotland on January 21, 1736, the son of William Nisbet and Alison Hepburn. His father was a schoolteacher at Long Yester near Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. By 1754, Charles Nisbet had completed studies at both the High School and the University of Edinburgh and had entered Divinity Hall to prepare for the ministry. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on September 24, 1760. On May 17, 1764, he was ordained to the parish church of Montrose.
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Wilhelm Lübke
1826 - 1893 (67 years)
Wilhelm Lübke was a German art historian, born in Dortmund. He studied at Bonn and Berlin; was a professor of architecture at the Berlin Bauakademie and a professor of art history at the Polytechnic in Zurich , the Polytechnic in Stuttgart , and the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe . Previous to his work in art, he gave instruction in vocal and pianoforte music.
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James Booth
1806 - 1878 (72 years)
The Revd Dr James Booth, was an Anglo-Irish clergyman, notable as a mathematician and educationalist. Life Born at Lavagh, County Leitrim on 26 August 1806, the son of John Booth , he entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1825 and was elected scholar in 1829, graduating B.A. in 1832, M.A. in 1840, and LL.D. in 1842.
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Max D. Raiskin
1919 - 1978 (59 years)
Max D. Raiskin , was a rabbi, Professor of Hebrew Literature, licensed Certified Public Accountant, author of educational textbooks, and the principal and executive director of the East Side Hebrew Institute.
Go to Profile#2237
Maciej Masłowski
1901 - 1976 (75 years)
Maciej Masłowski was a Polish art historian. Biography Masłowski was born in Warsaw. He was a son of painter Stanisław Masłowski and piano teacher Aniela born Ponikowska . After graduating from in Warsaw, he studied at University of Warsaw, first history, and then art history. From 1931 to 1939 he worked in the Department of Fine Arts of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education and at the same time as the manager of Mobile Art Exhibition and organizer of the Summer Institutes of Folk Arts at Żabie on Hucul region — 1938 and in Zakopane on Podhale region — 1939. Since 193...
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Lucy Washburn
1848 - 1939 (91 years)
Lucy M. Washburn was a high school education pioneer in the San Francisco Bay Area and one of the founders of the San Jose State Normal School. Early life Lucy Washburn was born on April 23, 1848, in Fredonia, New York, south of Lake Erie. She was the daughter of a regimental surgeon with the Union forces who died during the Civil War. She had a younger brother, Arthur H. Washburn, a mechanical engineer and on the faculty of the San Jose State Normal School with her.
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Timothy Walker
1806 - 1856 (50 years)
Timothy Walker was an American lawyer who founded the Cincinnati Law School and was its first dean. Biography Timothy Walker was born in Wilmington, Massachusetts, US, to Benjamin and Susanna Walker. He graduated from Harvard in 1826. From 1826 to 1829 he taught mathematics at the Round Hill School, and he studied law at Harvard Law School 1829 and 1830.
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Elizabeth Denio
1842 - 1922 (80 years)
Dr. Elizabeth Harriet Denio was an American teacher who was the first woman to teach at the University of Rochester. She retired as Professor Emeritus in 1917. Life Denio was born in Albion, New York, in 1842.
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Allan Marquand
1853 - 1924 (71 years)
Allan Marquand was an art historian at Princeton University and a curator of the Princeton University Art Museum. Early life Marquand was born on December 10, 1853, in New York City. He was a son of Elizabeth Love Marquand and Henry Gurdon Marquand, a prominent philanthropist and art collector who served as the second president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Marquand Family gained prominence in the silver trade, having established Marquand and Co. Marquand's uncle, Frederick Marquand, as well as cousin Virginia Marquand Monroe, founded Southport's Pequot Library Association.
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Gertrud Otto
1895 - 1970 (75 years)
Gertrud Otto was a German art historian who researched sculpture of the 15th and 16th centuries, in particular the late Gothic Memmingen and Ulm schools. Life Gertrud Otto was born in Memmingen, the daughter of Gustav Otto and Berta Otto, née Derpsch, Her father was the publisher of the Memminger Zeitung as well as a print shop owner. After elementary school she attended the secondary school for girls in Memmingen. In 1910 at the age of 15 she left Memmingen and went to Munich, which at the time was the only place where it was possible for girls to take their Abitur. In July 1916 she passed the Abitur at the Ludwigsgymnasium.
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André Chastel
1912 - 1990 (78 years)
André Chastel was a French art historian, author of an important work on the Italian Renaissance. He was a professor at the Collège de France, where he held the chair of art and civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy, from 1970 to 1984, he was elected a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1975. He is buried at Ivry Cemetery, Ivry-sur-Seine.
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Vivian Wilson Henderson
1923 - 1976 (53 years)
Vivian Wilson Henderson was an American educator and human rights activist, and the eighth president of Clark Atlanta University. Vivian Wilson Henderson became President of Clark College in 1963, at the age of 40, where he would serve as president for 10 consecutive years.
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Henry Nottidge Moseley
1844 - 1891 (47 years)
Henry Nottidge Moseley FRS was a British naturalist who sailed on the global scientific expedition of HMS Challenger in 1872 through 1876. Life Moseley was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of Henry Moseley. He was educated at Harrow School, at Exeter College, Oxford and at the University of London . He married Amabel Gwyn Jeffreys, daughter of the conchologist John Gwyn Jeffreys, in 1881, and they were the parents of the noted British physicist Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley.
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Alfred Woltmann
1841 - 1880 (39 years)
Alfred Woltmann was a German art historian. He was born at Charlottenburg, studied at Berlin and Munich, and was appointed professor of art history successively at the Karlsruhe Polytechnicum and at the universities of Prague and Strasbourg . Conjointly with the author he adapted the fifth volume of Schnaase's Geschichte der bildenden Künste for the second edition , and with Karl Woermann began a Geschichte der Malerei , completed after his death by his collaborator. Besides his principal work, Holbein und seine Zeit , he wrote:Die deutsche Kunst und Die Reformation Die Baugeschichte Ber...
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John B. Creeden
1871 - 1948 (77 years)
John Berchmans Creeden was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit, who served in many senior positions at Jesuit universities in the United States. Born in Massachusetts, he attended Boston College, and studied for the priesthood in Maryland and Austria. He taught at Fordham University and then at Georgetown University, where he became the dean of Georgetown College in 1909, and simultaneously served as the principal of Georgetown Preparatory School.
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Samuel Harrison Greene
1845 - 1920 (75 years)
Samuel Harrison Greene was an American Baptist pastor, church leader, and university official. Early life Samuel Harrison Greene was born in Enosburg, Vermont on December 25, 1845. He was educated in local schools. At 21, he was elected as the Superintendent of Schools in Montgomery, Vermont. In 1873, he graduated from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, and in 1875 from Hamilton Theological Seminary. He is descended from John Parker.
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Cornelius Gurlitt
1850 - 1938 (88 years)
Cornelius Gustav Gurlitt was a German architect and art historian. Life Gurlitt was born in Nischwitz in Thallwitz, Saxony, the son of the landscape painter Louis Gurlitt and nephew of his namesake, the composer Cornelius Gurlitt. He left the gymnasium of Gotha before graduation and became a carpenter's apprentice. After studying in Stuttgart and Vienna he worked as an architect, then obtained a position at the Arts and Crafts Museum in Dresden.
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Hans Jantzen
1881 - 1967 (86 years)
Hans Jantzen was a German art historian who specialized in Medieval art. Life and work Jantzen first studied law, then history of art, archaeology and philosophy at various universities. For instance, at the University of Berlin he studied under Heinrich Wölfflin and at the University of Halle under Adolph Goldschmidt. In 1908 he completed his PhD dissertation on architecture depicted in Netherlandish paintings. In 1912, after finishing his Habilitationsschrift on color in Dutch painting of the 17th century, he taught art history in Halle.
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