Maria Weigert Brendel, 1917?

Brendel at Grunewald School, 1920/21

Maria Weigert Brendel

Maria Weigert was an expert on classical art who married the scholar Otto J. Brendel, a fellow student of hers at the University of Heidelberg. They married in 1929, and after he received his doctorate they moved in 1931 to the University of Erlangen. Otto Brendel was also First Assistant at the German Archaeological Institute, but was forced to quit his job under National Socialism because his wife was of Jewish ancestry. Eventually he found a position in the United States and called for his wife and daughter to join him. From 1941-56 they lived in Bloomington Indiana while Brendel taught at the University of Indiana. Later he accepted a post as Professor of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia and they moved to New York City. There both Brendels were actively engaged with the archaeology club and had numerous friendships with colleagues in the field. Maria had always shared her husband’s career and after his death in 1973, she translated into English his Symbolism of the Sphere and an article on “Iphigeneia in Tauris in Euripides and Goethe,” and also arranged to have his last book, Etruscan Art, completed by Emeline Richardson. Maria was also involved in the posthumous publication of the Festschrift in honor of her husband.

Author of biography: Larissa Bonfante
Includes bibliography? Yes

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Keywords: Dietrich Boenhoffer, plot to kill Hitler, University of Heidelberg, Ludwig Curtius, Otto J. Brendel, Ludovisi Throne, German Archaeological Institute, University of Erlangen, racial laws, National Socialism, Durham University, Vassar, Washington University, University of Indiana, Erotic Art, Lucas Foss, Cornelia Foss, Columbia University, Rudolf Wittkomer, Meyer Shapiro, William Dinsmoor, Edith Porada, Eve Harrison, Margarete Bieber, Classical Civilizaiton Seminar, Loeb lecture, Sphere, Iphigeneia, Emeine Richardson, Etruscan Art