University lecturer and full professor. Grisebach was born in Berlin in 1881 to the architect Hans Otto Grisebach (1848–1904) and Emmy Hensel (1858–1936). He attended the Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium in Berlin, completing his abitur in 1900. From c. 1900 to 1904, he studied art history in Berlin for four semesters, Munich for one, and returned to Berlin for his final three. During this time, he studied under Heinrich Wölfflin and Berthold Riehl. Grisebach received his doctorate in 1906 from Berlin under Wölfflin.

He co-founded with Heinz Kähler the Monumenta Artis Romanae book series.

Scholar of South American archaeology and art, pre-Columbian art, and professor. Erwin Palm, son of merchant Arthur Palm and Else Hesse (Palm), was born in Frankfurt in 1910. In 1929, Palm received his Abitur from Goethe-Gymnasium. Afterwards, he studied archaeology, classical philology, philosophy, and art history in Göttingen, Heidelberg, Rome, and Florence. He graduated from Universität Heidelberg in 1932. Upon graduation, he decided to study in Rome under Giorgio Pasquali (1885-1952). There, he completed his dissertation, Una interpretazione romana del mito, in 1935.