Cornelius Müller Hofstede

Cornelius Müller Hofstede was a German art historian and museum director. From 1957 to 1963 he was director of the Gemäldegalerie in West Berlin. His son Justus was also an art historian.

Life

Born in Geisa, he was the son of pastor Müller. His mother was sister of the Dutch scholar Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. He passing his school-leaving certificate in Weimar in 1918 before studying at the universities in München under Heinrich Wölfflin, Vienna and Berlin. In 1924 he gained his doctorate in Berlin, supervised by Adolph Goldschmidt, with a thesis entitled "Contribtuions on Biblical history paintings in the 16th and 17th century Netherlands". Even at that time he worked for a period with his uncle Hofstede de Groot in The Hague. In the following years he published several studies of Dutch Baroque painters, which showed him to be a knowled
After some time volunteering at the Bavarian National Museum in Munich and at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin under Wilhelm von Bode, he became assistant and head assistant at the art historical seminar of Berlin University under Goldschmidt and Albert Erich Brinckmann. He subsequently adopted the surname Müller Hofstede to avoid confusion with his colleagues.
In 1934 he decided to move into museums and took on a temporary position at the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Breslau, two years later being appointed its managing director. On 23 September 1937 he joined the Nazi Party, with his joining date backdated to 1 May and the membership number 5.825.002.

Selected works

Abraham Bloemaert als Landschaftsmaler. In: Oud Holland 44, 1927, p. 193–208.

with Iohan Quirijn van Regteren Altena: Der Maler Jacob van Geel. In: Jahrbuch der preußischen Kunstsammlungen 52, 1931, p. 187–188.Bemerkungen zu Michael Willmanns Landschaftskunst. In: Der Oberschlesier 19, 1937, p. 245–247.Monumentale Glasgemälde von Ludwig Peter Kowalski in Schlesien Ausstellung von fünf Glasmalereien mit verschiedenen Entwürfen für Gobelins und Mosaiken, einer Applikationsarbeit und ausgewählter Gemälde von Ludwig Peter Kowalski anlässlich seines fünfzigsten Geburtstages Hinter Drahtzaun und Bahnschranke: zur Ausstellung von Professor Alexander Olbricht im Schlesischen Museum der bildenden Künste in Breslau Rembrandts Familienbild und seine Restaurierung. Braunschweig 1952.HdG 409. Eine Nachlese zu den Münchener Civilis-Zeichnungen. In: Kunsthistorisk Tidskrift 25, 1956, p. 42–55.Untersuchungen über Giorgiones Selbstbildnis in Braunschweig. In: Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 8, 1957, p. 13–34.Zwei schlesische Madonnen von Lucas Cranach: eine Erinnerung. Kulturwerk Schlesien, Würzburg 1958.Das Selbstbildnis des Lucas van Leyden im Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Braunschweig. In: Festschrift Friedrich Winkler, Berlin 1959, p. 221–238.Das Stuttgarter Selbstbildnis von Rembrandt. In: Pantheon 1963, p. 65–100.Michael Willmann. Die Jakobsleiter. In: Schlesien, 1965, p. 193–201.Zur Genesis des Claudius Civilis-Bildes. In: Otto von Simson, Jan Kelch : Neue Beiträge zur Rembrandt-Forschung, Berlin 1973, p. 12–30, 41–43.