Medievalist art historian at the University in Bern, 1934-1968. Hahnloser's father was a physician with an appreciation for modern art. The young man grew up knowing the modern Swiss artists of his day, including Pierre Bonnard, Vuillard, Felix Vallotton, Giovanni Giacometti, and Ferdinand Hodler. He studied art history at the university in Basle under Friedrich Rintelen. Beginning in 1921 he entered the university in Vienna working under Julius von Schlosser.

Director of the Kunsthistorischen Institut at the University of Bern. Hüttinger received his Ph.D. in 1952 and his habilitation in 1963, both from the University of Zürich. Between 1955-1965 he was conservator and director of exhibitions at the Kunsthaus in Zürich. He joined the faculty of the University of Heidelberg in 1966 as professor of art history and remained until 1969. That year he was appointed director of the Kunsthistorischen Institut at the University of Bern.

Widely influential professor of art history, major exponent of formalist methodology. Wölfflin was the son of a Swiss classics scholar Eduard von Wölfflin (1831-1908) and Bertha Troll-Greuter (Wölfflin) (1839-1911). He initially studied philosophy at the university in Basel under Johannes Volkelt (1848-1930), but the lectures of cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt developed in him an enthusiasm for art history.