Philip Weilbach

Philip Weilbach (5 August 1834, Usserød – 22 November 1900, Copenhagen) was a Danish art historian and encyclopedist. He is remembered above all for his pioneering work on the early editions of the biographical dictionary, Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon (Weilbach's Artists' Lexicon).

Early life Son of Johan Philip Weilbach who ran a clothing factory in Usserød north of Copenhagen, Weilbach graduated from Borgdyd School on the Copenhagen island of Christianshavn in 1852. He then studied esthetics and history of art but did not take final examinations. From 1860 to 1862, he was in Rome as secretary to the Danish consul and became a member of the Scandinavian Association.

Career On returning to Denmark, he published De berømte Broncedøre for Hovedindgangen til Baptisteriet i Florens, udførte af Lorenzo Ghiberti (1862) about Lorenzo Ghiberti's bronze doors in the Baptistry of Florence Cathedral. He assisted the literary critic Clemens Petersen and also befriended the Norwegian author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson for a while, leading in 1870 to a collection of articles he published as Konst og Æsthetik (Art and Esthetics). In 1872, he wrote a biography of the painter Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg titled Maleren Eckersbergs Levned og Værker.

While his work as a critic was less notable than that of Lange, his contributions to the history of architecture were more successful. These included Hvem har bygget Frederiks Hospital? (Who Built Frederik's Hospital?) in 1899 and En bygning af Harsdorff i Trondhjem (A Building by Harsdorff in Trondheim) in 1901. However, he is remembered above all for his work on the first and second series of Denmark's biographical dictionary of artists and architects known as Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon, first published in 1877–1878 and again in 1896–1897. These solid works are based on rich background material as well as on archival sources and include personal contributions from artists who were still living at the time. In 1892 Weilbach became a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog.

Personal life

Weilbach was on 19 March 1886 married to Emma Emilie Frederikke Dreyer (14 January 1851 - 24. March 900), daughter of merchant and consul in Helsingør Carl Frederik August Dreyer (1820-1904) and Juliane Louise Wilhelmine Becker (1825-1900). The marriage was later dissolved.

He was second time married to Cecilie Adolphine Ammitzbøll (1826-1883), daughter of Hans Henrich Ammitzbøll (1786-1831) and Marie Sophie Ammitzbøll (1793-1853). They had five children: Philip Biørnstierne Weilbach , Fderik Immanuel Weilbach,a Cl Valdemar Weilbach, Dagmar Charlotte Weilbach and Niels Olaf Weilbach