Hermann Theodor Hettner

Who was Hermann Theodor Hettner?

Hermann Julius Theodor Hettner, was a German literary historian and writer on the history of art.

He was born at Leisersdorf, near Goldberg, in Silesia. At the universities of Berlin, Halle and Heidelberg he concentrated on the study of philosophy, but in 1843 turned his attention to aesthetics, art and literature. In order to progress with these studies, he spent three years in Italy, and, on his return, published a Vorschule zur bildenden Kunst der Alten and an essay on Die neapolitanischen Malerschulen. He became Privatdozent for aesthetics and the history of art at Heidelberg and, after the publication of his suggestive volume on Die romantische Schule in ihrem Zusammenhang mit Goethe und Schiller, accepted a call as professor to the University of Jena where he lectured on the history of both art and literature.

In 1855 he was appointed director of the royal collections of antiquities and the museum of plaster casts at Dresden, to which posts were subsequently added that of director of the historical museum and a professorship at the Royal Saxon Polytechnic. He remained there until his death.