art historian

Person who studies, observes, documents, interprets, and analyses works of art in the context of their particular style and historical background. Works are analysed using various concepts, such as the time and place in which a piece was produced, and changes or developments in the most dominant styles are noted. A number of methods are employed when observing, interpreting, and documenting works of art.

Art historians categorize and interpret works of art by documenting the time (or period) and place of creation, studying the biography of the artist (contracts, commissions, sketchbooks), and looking at influences on the artist or where the artist studied. A work may also be classified by its iconography (subject matter, themes, and symbolism) and the historical context in which a work of art was created. Art is also looked at as an object in itself, and it is analysed and interpreted based on formal properties such as form, space, area, mass, colour, proportion.

Throughout history, artists and academics have looked to the writings of art historians as a major source of art interpretation. Many artists are influenced by the writings and ideas of art historians, as these interpretations are often relied upon by students, scholars, and the public as the definitive word in the study of art.

Although art history did not become an academic discipline until 1844 at Berlin University, the German archaeologist Johann Winckelmann laid its foundations in the mid-18th century in his studies of ancient Greece and Rome. Art historians today work in universities and museums, write books about art, and continue to reinterpret the art from centuries past as well as look for new developments in modern art.