Italian Renaissance and Raphael scholar, Berlin university professor. He was born in Danzig, Prussia which is present-day Gdańsk, Poland. Fischel was the son of Margarete Fischel (father’s name not documented). He studied art history in Königsberg and Strassburg, the latter under Georg Dehio.  He earned his doctorate in 1896 Straßburg with the dissertation, Raphaels Zeichnungen: Versuch einer kritischen Sichtung der bisher veröffentlichten Blätter (“Raphael’s Drawings: Critical Review of Previously Published Papers“).