ART CRITIC’S DEATH
HIS J>A VINCI PLUNDER
BERLIN, March 10.
Professor Willicni von Rode, the w .r.d-l'nmoos art expert, died hero today in his 81th year.
iiis daughter and housekeeper had left him fir a few minutes alone. t\ ben one ol them returned she saw a startling change in bis face. He suddenly threw up bis arms and then sank unconscious hack in his chair. ’The w .men placed him on his Led. where he died a few minutes later. Dr. Wilhelm von Rode was a student .uni art com -isseur of world-wide rc•ute. It is impossible to over-estimate the services he r. inlerd to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, which niav lie said to have been his creation.
It was his ambition to make the museum, which was under his charge for many years, the leading institution of its kind in the whole world, and to (he ac hievement of this ideal he devoted himself with unflagging zeal. His knowledge of art embraced many fields and was .supported by a rare Hair foi quality. Although lie specialised in Rembrandt and the Dutch masters of his period, be’ was considered one of the leading authorities OR Italian Renaissance painting and sculpture, and on Oriental carpets and rugs. For many years his opinion on Rembrandt was considered so authoritative that it was found practically impossible to sell a picture by the master without a. Bode certificate. That Hr. von Bode made mistakes, even at a time when his phvsicial and mental powers were at their keenest, is only an admission that he was human. That, having been convicted of a serious blunder, as in the ease of the “Flora” bust—a work by the English sculptor R. C. Lucas, which lie proclaimed to be by Leonardo da Vinci—he obstinately clung to bis avowed opinion. only proves that he had much of Prussian arrogance and assertiveness in his blood. His obstinacy weakened lus authority as a scholar and failed to bring the world round to his view.
To Dr. von Bode’s credit stand a large number of important books on various phases of art.
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Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1929, Page 7
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353ART CRITIC’S DEATH Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1929, Page 7
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