We are saddened to announce the death of Hans Belting,听following a long illness. Hailed as one of the greatest art historians of all times, Professor Belting’s extensive publications have addressed a broad historical range of European art and architecture, inspiring the work and research of many in our community and beyond.
Hans Belting was first and foremost a medievalist. His doctorate (University of听Mainz, 1959) was in this field of studies (“The Basilica dei SS. Martiri in Cimitile and its early medieval fresco cycle鈥) as was his habilitation, “Studies on Beneventan painting鈥. Following this, he was Harvard Fellow at the American Byzantine Studies Research Center in Dumbarton Oaks in Washington. Returning to Germany in 1965, Belting set up the department for Byzantine art at the University of Hamburg, before being appointed a professor in Heidelberg. From 1980 to 1992 he was Professor of Art History at Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, moving to Karlsruhe College of Arts and Design in 1992 to co-found the department of art and media history, where he was also Professor.
Upon his retirement, from 2002 to 2003 Professor Belting served as Chair of the European Department at the Coll猫ge de France and, from 2004 to 2007 as Director of the International Research Center for Cultural Studies (IFK) in Vienna.听He was a member of the Academy of Science, Heidelberg, and an Academia Europaea,听Wissenschaftskolleg听Fellow, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of 迟丑别听Order Pour le M茅rite for Sciences and Arts听(which numbers some eighty selected scientists and artists from Germany and around the world).
Professor Belting also wrote on the discipline of art history in the contexts of 鈥榥ew鈥 art forms, including photography, video art, and digital art. An early champion of interdisciplinary research, his work drew upon art history, image studies in cultural studies and in the natural sciences.
In 2015 Professor Belting received the prestigious Balzan Prize for his work on the history of European art; the award citation mentioned Belting鈥檚 singular contributions to the study of the visible and the function of images in the Western world as well as his innovative and original interpretations of artworks between cultures and eras.
His many publications include听Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image Before the Era of Art听(1984),听The End of the History of Art听(1987),听The Invisible Masterpiece: The Modern Myths of Art听(2001),听Art History After Modernism听(2003) and听Face and Mask: a Double History听(2017)
The 91自拍 was delighted to award Professor Belting听an Honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Lit听Honoris Causa) of the University of London in 2003, the first year of its existence as an independent college of the University.
