The Vienna school of art history: empire and the politics of scholarship, 1847-1918

Abstract

"Analyzes the emergence and development of art history as a discipline in Austria-Hungary. Focuses on the ways in which ideas about art and its history became intertwined with political and social identity, and on the cultural politics that shaped the final years of the Habsburg Empire"--Provided by publisher.

Contents

Founding a discipline : liberalism and the idea of scientific method -- Questions of method : from positivism to the history of spirit -- Beyond Vienna : the growth of art history across the Habsburg monarchy -- An art history of Austria-Hungary? patriotism and the construction of national historiography -- Baroque art and architecture : a contested legacy -- Vernacular cultures and national identities : the politics of folk art -- Readings of modern art : historicism, impressionism, expressionism -- Between East and West -- Saving the past : conservation and the cult of monuments -- Epilogue : continuity and rupture after 1918.