Page - 213 - in Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, Volume LIX

“i then asked myself: what ist the ‘wiener schule’” 213 Hermann21, Schlosser for instance, all curators of the Museum ), he never talked shop with them; he repeated anecdotes, described mannerisms of his teachers, and enjoyed it immensely. Later when as a young married couple22 we visited him in his bachelor apartment behind the University or met him in the Floriani in Piazza in the evening, it was the same with us, but the pace was slower, there were longer pauses between the stories and less variety. (Wickhoff did not overcome his reserve against our generation of pupils. None of us ever became intimate with him. He had chosen my husband as his assistant23 after Dvořák had been made Professor24 – follower of Riegl – but he did not change his attitude. All his warmth, his long- ing for family life he kept for Dvořák. He fought down the difficulties which Dvořák’s appointment met; the “deutsch-national” students stormed into class and booed Wickhoff in whom they rightly recognized Dvořák’s protector. I will remember this lecture. Dvořák intercepted me at the stair- case which led down from the art historical insti- tute. “Don’t go”, he said, “it will be grim.” And we could hear the racket. It lasted what seemed to me an eternity. Then suddenly it has stopped and it was Wickhoff’s voice alone. The deputated horde had left the classroom after having absolved their mission.25 Wickhoff recognized in Dvořák not only his spiritual, but also his worldly heir. It was a father-son relationship. Dvořák was a good lis- tener and he listened not only to the string of an- ecdotes but also to the discussion of art historical problems which Wickhoff tackled in his last years and to his extra-art historical interests. Wickhoff, a great reader and Goethe enthusiast tried to finish Goethe’s fragment […].26 This poetical ambition seems to have shoved the scholarly one into the background in his last years. Wickhoff did not only seem an old man to us because we were young but had indeed cut down the various interests which used to fill the life of scholars of his age. I remember him telling us about an elderly friend that she did not mind to go to the same resort every year: “Every mountain looks alike […].” He never could understand her. “But nowadays I feel the same way.” I don’t know whether he ever travelled to Spain; I do remem- ber that he visited the great Rembrandt Exhibit in Amsterdam.27 “Not even Rembrandt can stand an exhibition of so many of his works”, was his com- ment. What would Wickhoff have said to a One- Man-Show of Jacopo Bassano, Mostra 1957?!28 Well, he might have enjoyed it. Everything in con- nection with Venice was dear to his heart. It was in Venice that he spent all his leisure time – in the years I had known him. And in Venice he died. His love for Venice became the heritage which he left to his pupils. It is difficult to sum up what I owe Wickhoff as a teacher. His rejec- tion of the cliché, the skepsis against everything before I haven’t checked it myself, the interest in the subject and its relation to its spiritual back- ground- and my love for Venice. There is one more instance which I’ll try to formulate. He was not a connoisseur and did 21 Hermann Julius Hermann (1869–1953), 1925–1933 erster Direktor des Kunsthistorischen Museums, Direktor der Sammlung für Plastik und Kunstgewerbe. 22 Hans Tietze und Erica Conrat heirateten im Dezember 1905. 23 Hans Tietze war 1905 und 1906 Assistent Wickhoffs. 24 Max Dvořák (1874–1921) wurde nach Riegls Tod 1905 zum außerordentlichen Professor ernannt. 25 Max Dvořák war als gebürtiger Tscheche Angriffen von deutschnationaler Seite ausgesetzt. 26 J. W. Goethes unvollendetes Festspiel „Pandora“ wurde von Wickhoff fertig gestellt. 27 Möglicherweise ist die holländische Ausstellung zur dreihundertsten Wiederkehr von Rembrandts Geburtstag im Jahr 1906 gemeint. 28 Die Gesamtschau der Werke Jacopo Bassanos 1957 im Palazzo Ducale in Venedig war vermutlich Anlaß für eine der letzten Europareisen Erica Tietze-Conrats vor ihrem Tod in New York 1958.