Title: Leo Planiscig Letter (VMF215), 1934
Administrative/Biographical History
Leo Planiscig (August 31, 1887 - July 7, 1952) was an Austrian art historian. Planiscig possessed an excellent knowledge of Italian sculpture of the early modern period, in particular the small bronzes of the fifteenth century. Among his publications was a series of monographs of the most important Italian sculptors of the Renaissance.
Born in Gorizia, Planiscig published numerous essays in the literary magazine Il Marzocco while still in school. In 1908, he went to Vienna and studied art history at the Max Dvorak and Julius von Schlosser. He graduated in 1912 with a dissertation On the History of Venetian Sculpture in the 14th Century.
Planiscig was recommended to Archduke Franz Ferdinand as a consultant in matters of art. After the Archduke’s assassination in 1914, his art collection was placed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Planiscig was kept as a curator. In 1933, Planiscig appointed director of the collection of sculpture and decorative arts at the museum. He moved to Florence in 1938 and devoted himself to his studies as a private scholar. A bomb attack during World War II in 1943 destroyed his house in Florence. Although he survived by accident, Planiscig‘s health was impaired by the shock experience.
