Full Name: Herbig, Reinhard
Other Names:
- Reinhard Herbig
Gender: male
Date Born: 1898
Date Died: 1961
Place Born: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Place Died: Rome, Lazio, Italy
Home Country/ies: Germany
Subject Area(s): Antique, the, Classical, and Etruscan (culture or style)
Overview
Specialist in Etruscan and classical Greek and Roman art, particularly architectural history, and large mosaics and paintings. Herbig was the son of Etruscan scholar Gustav Herbig (1868-1925). He was wounded while fighting in World War I. After the war he studied at the universities of Rostock, Breslau and finally Heidelberg, where he was awarded his degree. His dissertation was on windows in ancient architecture, Das Fenster in der Architektur des Altertums, granted in 1925 (published in 1929). He further studied during travels to Italy and Greece. His professional career began as a privatdozent in Heidelberg in 1930. Professor of Archaeology at the University of Jena (1933-1936), then University of Würzburg (1936-1941), before returning to the University of Heidelberg 1941 (remaining until 1956). In 1942 he accepted the editorship of the Denkmäler der Malerei des Altertums, founded by Paul Herrmann. The work was completed in 1950. While at Heidelberg, he published his corpus on Etruscan stone sarcophagi, Die jungerestruskischen Steinsarcophage in 1952. He also assumed the editorship of the Handbuch der Archäologie beginning with volume 3, from Walter G. A. Otto (1878-1941). He assumed the directorship of the deutsches archäologisches Institut (German Archaeological Institute, or DAI) in Rome, 1956-1961. Herbig’s work on stone sarcophagi and his later book on the gods of Etruria, Götter und Dämonen der Etrusker, are his greatest contribution to the discipline. However, he also published significant studies on Roman painting, Greek architecture and even Renaissance painting. Brendel’s obituary mentions his caustic wit and steady judgment.
Selected Bibliography
[dissertation:] Das Fenster in der Architektur des Altertums. Heidelberg, 1925 and published, same title, Athens: Buchdruckerei “Hestia”, 1929; Neue[n] Beobachtungen am Fries der Mysterien-Villa in Pompeji. Baden-Baden: B. Grimm, 1958; “Untersuchungen am dorischern Peripteraltempel auf Kap Sunion” Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts, athenische Abteilung 66 (1941): 87ff.; “Die Skulpturen vom Bühnenhaus.” Das Dionysos-Theater in Athen. vol. 2. Sächsische Forschungsinstitute in Leipzig. Forschungsinstitut für klassische Philologie und Archäologie. Antike griechische Theaterbauten, Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1935; Götter und Dämonen der Etrusker. Heidelberg: Scherer, 1948; “Griechischen Harfen.” Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts, athenische Abteilung 54 (1929): 164 ff.; Die Jüngeretruskischen Steinsarkophage. Die antiken Sarkophag-Reliefs 7. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1952; “Ganymed und der Adler,” and “Lekythenmeister in Heidelberg.” in, Ganymed: Heidelberger Beiträge zur antiken Kunstgeschichte: anlässlich der 100-Jahr-Feier der Sammlungen des Archäologischen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg. Heidelberg: F. H. Kerle, 1949; and Krauss, Friedrich. Der korintisch-dorische Tempel am Forum von Paestum. Berlin: W. de Gruyter & Co., 1939; Nugae Pompeianorum: unbekannte Wandmalereien des dritten pompejanischen Stils. Tübingen: E. Wasmuth, 1962; edited, Handbuch der Archäologie vol. 3 ff. Munich: Beck, 1939ff.
Sources
Archäologenbildnisse: Porträts und Kurzbiographien von Klassichen Archäologen deutscher Sprache. Reinhard Lullies, ed. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1988, pp. 274-275; Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology. Nancy Thomson de Grummond, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 583-84; [obituary:] Brendel, Otto J. “Reinhard Herbig.” American Journal of Archaeology 67 (1963): 81.
Contributors: Lee Sorensen