Papers of Jakob Rosenberg

Jakob Rosenberg (1883-1980), an art historian primarily specializing in the works of Rembrandt, was a Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University. Rosenberg's research focused on 17th-century prints and Renaissance and Baroque art, and he made significant contributions to the study of master drawings.

Rosenberg received his PhD from the University of Munich in 1922 and worked at the Print Room of the Berlin Museum until 1935, when he resigned after the National Socialists began purging Jews from academic institutions. After a visit to Harvard University in 1936 as an art history lecturer, Rosenberg immigrated to the United States in 1937, where he joined the Harvard faculty. Rosenberg was a research fellow and lecturer at Harvard from 1937 to 1939, then subsequently promoted to associate professor in 1940 and then to full professor in 1947. Additionally, Rosenberg was made curator of prints at the Harvard Fogg Museum in 1939, a position he held for twenty-five years. He was also director of the Graphic Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1939.

During his career, Rosenberg wrote a definitive two-volume work on Rembrandt and other works ranging from studies on Dutch art and architecture to 16th-century German artist Lucas Cranach. As curator of the Fogg's print department, Rosenberg expanded its collection of the German Expressionists and 20th-century central European artists. Rosenberg taught popular undergraduate courses in art history at Harvard, and many of his students became prominent curators in museums throughout the United States.