The View from the Land: Austrian Art Historians and the Interpretation of Croatian Art

Abstract

This essay focuses on two different Austrian art historians, Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg and Josef Strzygowski, both of whom made very significant contributions to Austrian, and more broadly, European, discussions of the origins and meaning of Dalmatian art and architecture. Eitelberger first visited the Dalmatian coast in 1859, seeking medieval monuments, and finding what he called an artistic terra incognita unknown to western European scholars. The moment was a hotly political one: just 10 years earlier, the Hungarians, who controlled northern Croatia had rebelled against Austrian rule. The Croatians had then taken up arms against the Hungarians, in the hopes that they would be rewarded by the Austrians for their loyalty. Strzygowski thought he could use Croatian art to prove his claims about the superficiality of classical forms and the real origins of all important styles in the Aryan East. Keywords: Croatian art; Dalmatian coast; Hungarians; Josef Strzygowski; Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg