Wilhelm Valentiner

Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner (1880-1958 ) was a German art historian and critic and museum official. He was born at Karlsruhe (Baden), and studied at Heidelberg under Henry Thode, and in Holland with De Groot and with Bredius, whose assistant he was at the Gallery of The Hague. In 1905 he was called to Berlin by William Bode, under whom he worked at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum and Kunstegewerke Museum. In 1906 was his dissertation from 1904 on Rembrandt published: "Rembrandt auf der Lateinschule". In 1907 he was appointed curator of the department of decorative arts in the Metropolitan Museum (New York), which under his supervision became one of the foremost in the world. After service at the front in the European War he was, in 1916, attached to the general staff at Berlin. 1924-1945 he was Director of the Detroit Museum. About 1930 he acquired American citizenship. In 1955 he became the first Director of the then new North Carolina Museum in Raleigh. This position he maintained until his death in September 1958.Especially known through his writings on Flemish and Dutch painting, he published:
* "Rembrandt auf der Lateinschule", Jahrbuch der preußischen Kunstsammlungen 27 (1906)
* "Rembrandt" (1907), with Bode
* "Altholländische Genre Zeichungen" (1908), with Bode
* "The Art of the Low Countries" (1914)
* "The Last Years of Michelangelo" (1914)
* "Rembrandt: wiedergefundene Gemälde, 1910-1922, in 128 Abbildungen" (1923)

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=Valentiner Downloadable books by Valentiner]
* [http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/valentinerw.htm Biography]