Carl von Lemcke

Who was Carl von Lemcke?

Carl von Lemcke, or Karl Lemcke, who sometimes wrote as Karl Manno was a German aesthetician and art historian who also wrote songs and novels.

He was born in Schwerin. Between 1852 and 1856 he studied art history and philosophy at the universities of Göttingen and Munich, and finally at the University of Heidelberg, where he obtained his doctorate in 1856. He studied and worked in Berlin, Paris and Munich before returning to the University of Heidelberg. There Lemcke gained his habilitation in 1862 with his book Zur Einleitung in die Ästhetik. He taught German literature, aesthetics, and history for five years before being appointed associate professor. The frequently-translated Populäre Ästhetik dates from those years.

In 1871, Lemcke moved to the University of Munich and joined the Munich circle of writers Die Krokodile, taking the nickname "Hyena." Just two years later he accepted a position at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, where he was given a full professorship of aesthetics and art history.