Richter, Jean Paul

Date born: 1847

Place Born:  Dresden, Germany

Date died: 1937

Place died:  Lugano, Switzerland

Dealer and historian of Italian art;  documentary scholar on Leonardo.  After initially studying theology (as his father before him), Richter discovered an interest in early Christian art and archaeology in 1869.  In 1876 he met the connoisseur-art historian Giovanni Morelli (q.v.), who became a major influence on his career.  Richter's first publication, in 1878, on the mosaics of Ravenna established his authority in the field.  The same year he married the daughter of an American Consul, Luise Marie Schwaab (q.v.), who would also write art history.  Jean Paul Richter then turned to the Italian Renaissance--and particularly Morelli's approach to it--the area which would be the majority of his scholarly efforts.  Morelli also provided letters of introduction for Richter when he moved from Leipzig to London in 1877.  Richter wasted no time in furthering his scholarly profile.  In the early 1880s he published catalogs for the collections of Dulwich College Gallery and the National Gallery (Italian schools).  In 1883 Richter issued his magnum opus, Literary Works of Leonardo, which constituted a re-examination and scholarly translation of Leonardo's writings. Before Richter, the contents of Leonardo's notebooks were virtually unknown; it was Richter's accomplishment to publish these first in Italian and then in German and English language edition (Gilbert).  His friendships among influential art historians included Lady Eastlake (q.v.) and Ralph Nicholson Wornum (q.v.) of the National Gallery. In 1880 Richter introduced the young American art historian Bernard Berenson (q.v.) to Morelli, thus facilitating one of the more famous relationships in art history.   Richter's daughters also became art historians.  Gisela M. A. Richter (q.v.) became a prominent scholar of classical sculpture and Irma Richter (q.v.) a Leonardo scholar.

The less scholarly world knew Richter as a highly successful art dealer and collector.  Through his business, based in Florence, Richter made several important discoveries and attributions including a Giorgioni.  His personal collecting style was to own only one of an artist: when he purchased a better example, he would sell the lesser. He also developed private collections for a number of important British patrons. He was among the growing number of art dealers willing to travel to auctions throughout Europe (as opposed to the more traditional practice of being offered works by potential sellers) to find the most important works. But the business ultimately tarnished some of Richter's respect.  In 1889 he rescinded an offer to sell a Palma Vecchio to the National Gallery in order to offer it to his long-time client, Ludwig Mond (1839-1909).  Although the Mond collection eventually ended up in the museum, the powerful administrators of the Gallery, Sir Frederick Burton (q.v.) and Sir Austen Henry Layard (q.v.), never forgave him.  Controversy continued to hound him, particularly shortly before his death when his 1935 publication of a manuscript by Battistella proved to be a fake.  John Pope-Hennessy (q.v.) described Richter as "A good scholar but never a top-ranking connoisseur," especially compared to Morelli (p. 328).

Home Country:  Germany/United Kingdom

Sources: Kleinbauer, W. Eugene.  Research Guide to the History of Western Art.  Sources of Information in the Humanities, no. 2.  Chicago:  American Library Association, 1982, p. 33;  Pope-Hennessy, John.  "Morelli and Richter."  In, On Artists and Art Historians:  Selected Book Reviews of John Pope-Hennessy.  Florence:  Leo S. Olschki, 1994, pp. 327-29;  Dictionary of Art 26:  358; Gilbert, Creighton E.  "Introduction." The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti: Based on Studies in the Archives of the Buonarroti Family at Florence.  Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, p. xx; Simpson, Colin. Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen. New York: Macmillan, 1986, p. 54.

Bibliography:  ed., The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2nd ed. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1939;  Die Mosaiken von Ravenna. Beitrag zu einer kritischen Geschichte der altchristlichen Malerei.  Vienna:  W. Braumüller, 1878;  Quellen der byzandtinischen Kunstgeschichte Ausgewählte Texte über die Kirchen, Klöster, Paläste, Staatsgebäude und andere Bauten von Konstantinopel.  Quellenschriften für Kunstgeschichte und Kunsttechnik des Mittelalters und der Renaissance,  neue Folge ; Volume VIII.  Vienna:  C. Graeser, 1897;  Italian Art in the National Gallery.  London:  S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1883;  Catalogue of the Pictures in the Dulwich College Gallery, with Biographical Notices of the Painters.  London:  Spottiswoode, 1880; and Mond, Robert. La Collezione Hertz e gli affreschi di Giulio Romano nel palazzo Zuccari. Leipzig: Poeschel & Trepte, 1928; and Taylor, A. Cameron. The Golden Age of Classic Christian Art. London: Duckworth and Co., 1904; [manuscript diaries, 1873-1932,] Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library.