Prof. Dr. Michael Thimann
Chair of Art History
About Studies in Art History, Classical Archaeology, Early Christian Archaeology and German Literary Sciences in Kiel, Würzburg, Bologna and Berlin; 1997 Magister Artium; 2000 PhD Doctorate; 2000–2002 Research Assistant at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; 2003–2005 Research Scholarship from the German Research Foundation and the Max Planck Society; 2005–2006 Research Assistant at the Department of Art History at the Freie Universität Berlin; since May 2006 leader (W2) of the Independent Research Group “Das wissende Bild. Epistemologische Grundlagen profaner Bildlichkeit vom 15. bis 19. Jh.” at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut; 2008 Habilitation, University of Basel; Lectureships and substitute professorships in Berlin (HU, FU) and the Universities of Basel, Zürich and Jena; 2010–2012 Professorship of Art History and Visual Studies, University of Passau; since November 2012 professor of Art History, University of Göttingen.
Since 2021 Chairman of the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des 19. Jahrhunderts (www.neunzehntesjahrhundert.de).
- Art-historical Semantics (Iconology, Hermeneutics, History of Knowledge and the Visual Arts)
- Religious and profane imagery around 1800
- Artists’ knowledge and the education of artists from the 15th to the 19th century
- The reception of Ovid and mythographical concepts in the early modern era
- Theory and practice of drawing
- The “Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek” of Aby Warburg in Hamburg (edition of the library catalogue)
- Dr. Isabella Augart, Research Assistant
- Frieda Emma Westermeyer, Student Assistant