Sabrina Raphaela Buebl, BA MA, born in Vienna in 1992, studied cultural studies with a focus on musicology and theatre studies at the Università degli Studi di Milano (2011-14) and art management at the university Ca’ Foscari in Venice (2014-16). After working experiences outside of academia as a gallery assistant in Vienna and a tourist guide in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, England, and the USA she decided to complete a second master at the university of Salerno, Italy, in history and critics of art (2021-22). Since the end of 2022 she has been holding a three-year Fellowship from the same university in occasion of her doctorate and since October 2023 the project has been in cotutelle with the University of Vienna.
Research Interests: Art historiography, periodization, art critics, institutionalisation of art history, fourteenth- and fifteenth-century European art
Current Research Project: The main aim of the research is to critically analyse the thought of art historian Max Dvořák (1874-1921) from the perspective of his early writings. Dvořák is known for his studies of art history as a history of the spirit (Geistesgeschichte) although this approach only characterises the works completed in the last years of his activity. This doctoral project aims to illuminate the earlier phases, from the scholar's arrival in Vienna in 1894 until 1914, by which time he was a full professor. During these years, Dvořák had gained a reputation as an expert on late medieval and modern art on a European level, especially thanks to his first monumental work Das Rätsel der Kunst der Brüder van Eyck (The Enigma of the Art of the Van Eyck Brothers, 1904). Through the examination of published writings and unpublished manuscripts (lecture preparations, speeches, notes and correspondence) kept in the archives of the University of Vienna, it will be shown that a common thread, characterised by a focus on the socio-cultural aspects of the periods analysed, the vast material culture of the Habsburg treasures as well as a unique historical sensitivity, permeates the scholar's entire œuvre from his earliest studies. The transcription of unpublished manuscripts and an appropriate Italian translation of a selection of texts will allow the Italian reader to engage more directly with the works examined. Ultimately, a final chapter on Dvořák's reception in Italy will allow an understanding of the limited diffusion of his theories on the peninsula.
This doctoral project is intended to highlight the importance of Max Dvořák for the development of the art-historical discipline, with a focus on the study of late medieval and Renaissance art. At the same time, the socio-cultural (and to a certain extent also commercial) dynamics surrounding the creation of the label Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte will be analysed. The study will explore how much the early works actually differed ideologically from the late ones and how much said label contributed to this detachment.
Publications:
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'Late Middle Ages and Renaissance: the forgotten contribution of Max Dvořák', Journal of Art Historiography, vol. XXIX, n° 2 (December 2023): 1–28, https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/buebl.pdf