# Paul Jacobsthal

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Paul_Jacobsthal
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Paul_Jacobsthal.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jacobsthal
> Source revision: 1339722513
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

German archaeologist

Paul Jacobsthal Born (1880-02-23)23 February 1880 Berlin, Germany Died 27 October 1957(1957-10-27) (aged 77) Oxford, England Alma mater University of Bonn Occupation Academic Known for Study of Greek vase painting and Celtic art

**Paul Jacobsthal** (23 February 1880 in [Berlin](/source/Berlin) – 27 October 1957 in [Oxford](/source/Oxford)) was a scholar of [Greek vase painting](/source/Pottery_of_ancient_Greece) and [Celtic art](/source/Celtic_art). He wrote his dissertation at the [University of Bonn](/source/University_of_Bonn) under the supervision of [Georg Loeschcke](/source/Georg_Loeschcke). In 1912 he published a catalog of the Greek vases in [Göttingen](/source/G%C3%B6ttingen), and received a position as a professor at the [University of Marburg](/source/University_of_Marburg).

In the 1920s Jacobsthal became interested in the work of [John Beazley](/source/John_Beazley) on vase painting, and began to adopt Beazley's taxonomical methodologies. His 1927 work, **Ornamente griechischer Vasen**, was dedicated to Beazley. In 1930 Jacobsthal and Beazley began to collaborate on an inventory of early Greek vases, the **Bilder griechischer Vasen**, a project which they concluded in 1939. After [World War II](/source/World_War_II), the two scholars served as co-editors of the *Oxford Classical Monographs*.

In 1935 Jacobsthal was forced to leave [Nazi](/source/Nazi) Germany on account of his [Jewish](/source/Judaism) heritage – though he was baptised a protestant, both of his parents were Jewish.[1] He settled in [England](/source/England), and in 1937 was appointed as a lecturer at [Christ Church, Oxford](/source/Christ_Church%2C_Oxford). There he continued his collaboration with Beazley.

Soon after his arrival in England, Jacobsthal began to study the art of the [Celts](/source/Celts), and in 1944 published his study of *Early Celtic Art*. This book focused on the impact of Greek ornament on Celtic decorative arts, and was one of the earliest English-language works to employ the terminology established by [Alois Riegl](/source/Alois_Riegl) in his *[Stilfragen](/source/Stilfragen)*. From 1947 through 1950 Jacobsthal served as University Reader in Celtic Archaeology at [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University).

Jacobsthal's final study, *Greek pins and their connexions with Europe and Asia* (1956), returned to the cataloguing of material from Greek antiquity, while remaining engaged with issues of the reception of Greek art abroad.

Jacobsthal's students included the Swiss archaeologist [Karl Schefold](/source/Karl_Schefold) and [Hans Möbius](/source/Hans_M%C3%B6bius).

## Sources

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Katharina Ulmschneider and Sally Crawford (2016) "The Camel that Escaped the Nazis: Paul Jacobsthal and a Tang Camel at the Ashmolean". *Oxoniensia* **81**.

- Martyn Jope, *Paul Ferdinand Jacobsthal*. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Celtic Studies: Oxford, 1983. Ed E Ellis Evans et al., Jesus College, Oxford/Oxbow Books, 1986 15–18.

- Martin Robertson, "Dr. P.F. Jacobsthal", *[The Burlington Magazine](/source/The_Burlington_Magazine)* 100 (1958), 27.

## External links

- [Works by or about Paul Jacobsthal](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Jacobsthal%2C%20Paul%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Paul%20Jacobsthal%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Jacobsthal%2C%20Paul%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Paul%20Jacobsthal%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Jacobsthal%2C%20P%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Paul%20Jacobsthal%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Jacobsthal%2C%20Paul%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Paul%20Jacobsthal%22%29%20OR%20%28%221880-1957%22%20AND%20Jacobsthal%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

- [Jacobsthal at the Biographical Dictionary of Art Historians.](https://arthistorians.info/jacobsthalp)

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Italy Netherlands Norway Greece Vatican Israel Academics CiNii Artists ULAN People Archaeology Data Service Deutsche Biographie DDB Other IdRef Open Library SNAC Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Paul Jacobsthal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jacobsthal) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jacobsthal?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.