A Commentary on the Work of Alois Riegl and Edgar Wind

Tomáš Murár and Fabio Tononi
Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague / NOVA University of Lisbon
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3418-1941 / https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2113-0694

Volume 10, April 2026

Abstract Volume 10 of The Edgar Wind Journal is divided into two parts. The first features an article by Bernardino Branca on Edgar Wind, entitled ‘A Note on Giorgione’s Tempesta with Comments on Giorgione’s Poetic Allegories by Edgar Wind’. Through an analysis of the correspondence between Wind and Paul Oskar Kristeller, in which the two scholars argued that Platonism and Hermeticism played a central role in the ‘spiritual world’ of the time, Branca contends that ‘Wind’s explanation of the opposing forces embodied in Giorgione’s imagery’ has solved the riddle of the symbolic meaning of his paintings. The second part of this volume continues the proceedings of the international conference The Vienna School of Art History IV: für Riegl / gegen Riegl, held in Prague in April 2025. Furthermore, through an interpretation of Alois Riegl’s concept of Kunstwollen in the early works of Edgar Wind and Erwin Panofsky, this introduction argues that it is crucial to consider individualities and individual realities in history. This perspective would help avoid the application of general theoretical concepts that neglect individual phenomena. This danger is illustrated by the way the identity of Riegl has been mistaken with that of the classical archaeologist Robert von Schneider in the proceedings of the conference on Riegl held in Vienna in 2005.

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