Robert Suckale

In a post-war period made it his task to write a cosmopolitan history of German art in relation to, and in exchange with, that of its neighbors to the south (Italy), west (France, England, and the Netherlands), and east. Although now a generation old, his study of French Gothic Architecture (coauthored with Dieter Kimpel) is still acknowledged as the best comprehensive treatment of the subject, one that introduced the intensive consideration of technical archaeology (Bauforschung) in combination with sweeping political, religious and economic contextualization of the phenomenon we today call, Gothic. Book on Franconian painting in the century before Albrecht Dürer placed that artist's accomplishment in a new perspective. His re-edition of and essays on the scholarship of Rudolf Berliner helped restore the reputation of a great scholar who shared Suckale's interest in medieval iconography and devotional imagery. Essay on the Arma Christi (1977) remains a touchstone in scholarship, among the most frequently cited and influential studies of its kind. His knowledge of German illumination of the High and later Middle Ages is unparalleled. Contributed to the study of the art and patronage of female monasticism in the Holy Roman Empire, culminating in the exhibition, Krone und Schleier, Bonn-Essen (2005). Informing these studies is his relentless awareness of the ideological foundations of modern art history, especially in Germany, the birthplace of art history as a modern discipline. He has a special interest in the study of gothic statues of the Virgin Mary with the Christ child.