Quant, Johann Gottlob von

Patron, collector, and historian of German art. Quant came from a wealthy merchant family in Leipzig, and became an art critic in 1808. His first article described a visit to the city of Annaberg, and was published in the Zeitung für die elgante Welt. He received praise from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1815 for rescuing 11 German paintings from the attic of Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. In 1818, Quant moved to Rome, where he supported contemporary artists. Members of the northern artistic community frequently visited his home, including Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Because of his incendiary writings, Quant's artistic friends satirized his work in Betrachtungen und Meinungen über die in Deutschland herrschende Kunstschreiberei (1833). He commissioned the work of several artists and published his comments on their work in Kunstblatt and Briefe aus Italien. In 1823, he moved back to Dresden, after spending time traveling to Paris and Weimar to visit Goethe. Quant collected paintings, prints, and stained glass, publishing a guide to his collection, Verzeichnis von Gemälden und anderen Kunstgegenständen, in 1824. His lectures entitled Entwurf zu einer Geschichte der Kupferstecherkunst were published in 1826. In 1828, Quant helped to found the Sächsiche Kunstverein in Dresden, becoming the first Director. After nearly thirty years of publishing art-historical essays, and serving on several arts commissions in Dresden, Quant received a membership in the Akademie in Berlin (1828), and honorary memberships in the Akademie in Munich, and the Dürerverein in Nuremburg. He actively patronized contemporary German artists and participated in the Dresden Academy until his death in 1859.