Wolfgang Lotz

Dates

1912-1981.

Profession

university teacher.

Country of origin

Germany.

biography

Lotz, born in Heilbronn, initially studied Law at Freiburg (im Breisgau) and art history at Munich. He received his Ph. D. in 1937 under Ludwig Heydenreich in Hamburg, writing his dissertation on Jacopo Vignola's architecture. From then until 1942 he worked at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. In 1941 he married Hilde Bauer (1907-1999), art historian and distinguished photographer. In 1942 Lotz returned to Germany for military service in World War II. In 1945 he was assigned to the International Commission for Monuments in Munich. With the conclusion of the war, Lotz became deputy director at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich directed by Heydenreich. Since 1952 he was Professor of art at Vassar replacing Richard Krautheimer and following him in 1959 at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. In 1962 Lotz became director of the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute, in Rome. He held the positon until his retirement in 1980. From 1973 until his unexpected death in October 1981 Lotz was the President of the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio in Vicenza. He is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. (information mainly based on the article in the Dictionary of Art Historians)

Main works

Lotz, W. (1955). Die ovalen Kirchenräume des Cinquecento. Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, 7, 7-98

Lotz, W. (1958). Redefinitions of Style: Architecture in the Later 16th Century. College Art Journal, 17, 129-139

Lotz, W. (1969). Die spanische Treppe: Architektur als Mittel der Diplomatie. Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, 12, 39-94

Lotz, W., & Heydenreich, L.H. (1974). Architecture in Italy 1400-1600. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books

Lotz, W. (1977). Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture. Cambridge: MIT press

Lotz, W. (1995). Architecture in Italy 1500-1600, New Haven: Yale University Press

About the scholar

Howard, D. (1995). Lotz's Text: Its Achievement and Significance. In W. Lotz, Architecture in Italy 1500-1600 (pp. 1-7). New Haven: Yale University Press

Bulgarelli, M. (1997). Wolfgang Lotz e la storiografia dell’architettura del Rinascimento. In W. Lotz, L’architettura del Rinascimento (pp. 223-228). Milan: Electa

Thoenes, C. (2013). Wachstum: die Bibliotheca Hertziana unter Wolfgang Lotz (1963-1980). In S. Ebert-Schifferer (Ed.), 100 Jahre Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte. Die Geschichte des Instituts 1913-2013 (pp. 192-199). Munich: Hirmer

Lauterbach, I. (2015). Der Central Collecting Point in München. Berlin, Munchen: Deutscher Kunstverlagad

Collections

Nachlass Wolfgang Lotz