Rahn, Johann Rudolf

Full Name: Rahn, Johann Rudolf

Other Names:

• Johann Rahn

Gender: male

Date Born: 24 April 1841

Date Died: 28 April 1912

Place Born: Zürich, Switzerland

Place Died: Zürich, Switzerland

Home Country/ies: Switzerland

Institution(s): Universität Zürich

Overview

First to write a survey inventory of Swiss cultural heritage (1876). Rahn was born to a prominent Zurich family. His father, Johann Heinrich Rahn (1803-1847) was a pharmacist, and his mother, Maria Ziegler (Rahn) (1802-1843), was the daughter of the Winterthur book merchant Johannes Ziegler (1768-1830).  His mother died of illnesses the result of birth when he was two. Rahn was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in 1844. He was schooled at the Privatinstitut Walser.  His father died in 1847 and Rahn, already a promising draftsman, then trained in drawing and French under Johann Jakob Fitzi (1798-1855).  A mediocre academic student, he was sent back to Zurich in 1855, this time to study under the learned pastor and educator, Heinrich Cramer. There Rahn met the archaeologist Ferdinand Keller (1800-1881), Cramer’s neighbor. After some application rejections by schools, he was admitted in 1856 to an industrial school. However, Rahn felt out of place as a student, preferring the company of Keller; he made drawings for Keller’s antiquarian society. During a brief apprenticeship in a fabric shop in 1858–and studying Latin at which he excelled–his guardian, the historian Eduard Meyer (1855-1930), agreed to endorse schooling in art history.

Rahn studied art history at the Polytechnic and at the Universität Zürich (University of Zurich) between 1860 and 1861. He passed his Matura examination in 1862 and joined the Zofinger Association (Swiss national society).  At Zofinger he met the historian Gerold Meyer von Knonau II, (1853-1931). Between 1862 and 1863 he studied at Zurich hearing lectures from Wilhelm Lübke und Gottfried Semper. Between 1863-1866 he attended class at the universities of Bonn and Berlin.  In Berlin, he wrote his dissertation, Über den Ursprung und die Entwicklung des christlichen Central- und Kuppelbaus (On the Origin and Development of Christian Central and Dome Construction).  He married Kronau’s cousin, Caroline Meyer von Knonau (1846-1909), in 1868 and contributed to the second edition of Geschichte der bildenden Künste of Carl Schnaase in 1869.  In 1870 he was appointed Ausserordentlicher (associate) professor of art history at Zurich, rising to full professor in 1878.   He remained at the Universities until his retirement in 1912.  In 1873 he began publishing his Die Geschichte der bildenden Künste in der Schweiz (History of the Visual Arts in Switzerland) which concluded in 1876.  The book was the first survey of Swiss art. His study of Carolingian miniatures at St Gall appeared in 1878 as Das Psalterium Aureum von Sanct Gallen. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Karolingischen Miniaturmalerei.

Rahn continued to play an influential role in Switzerland’s cultural life. He helped found the (Swiss Society for the Preservation of Historical Artistic Monuments) in 1880.  This led to the identification and acquisition of art objects for the Federal Art Collection. He added the position of professor (Ordinariat an der Universität eine Professur für Kunstgeschichte an der Architekturabteilung) to the Polytechnikum in Zürich (Polytechnic Institute, today the ETH) in 1883. As a scholar, the theoretical concepts of his research lead to the establishing of the Swiss National Museum and locating it in Zurich. He was a member of the museum commission until his death in 1912.  His students included Samuel Guyer.

Selected Bibliography

• [dissertation:] Uber den Ursprung und die Entwicklung des christlichen Central-und Kuppelbaus. published, Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1866.
• Altchristliche, byzantische muhammedanische, karolingische Kunst. Volume II of Geschichte der Bildenden Künste (Karl Schnasse, see entry for full record). 2nd ed. 8 vols. Stuttgart: Ebner & Seubert, 1866-79.
• Geschichte der bildenden Künste in der Schweiz von den ältesten Zeiten bis zum Schlusse des Mittelalters. Zurich: H. Staub, 1876.
• Das Psalterium Aureum von Sanct Gallen. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Karolingischen Miniaturmalerei. St. Gallen: Zollikofer’schen Buchdruckerei, 1878
• “Zur Statistik der schweizerischen Kunstdenkmale.” Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft  14 (1891): 310ff; “Die schweizerischen Glasgemälde in der Vincent’schen Sammlung.” pp. 438.
• Ruheloses Leben: Aufzeichnungen und Erinnerungen.
  Düsseldorf: Diederichs, 1949.

Sources

• Zur Erinnerung an Frau Caroline Rahn geb. Meyer von Knonau: geboren 20. Juli 1846, gestorben 6. Mai 1909. Zurich: Berichthaus, 1909.
• Rahn, Johann Rudolf. Ruheloses Leben: Aufzeichnungen und Erinnerungen.
  Düsseldorf: Diederichs, 1949.
• Isler, Ursula, ed.  Johann Rudolf Rahn Begründer d. schweizer. Kunstgeschichte. Schulthess Zürich Verllag. 1956.
• “Rahn (1841–1912)” Zentralbibliothek Zürich (website) https://www.zb.uzh.ch/en/exhibits/rahn-1841-1912

Contributors: Lee Sorensen