ABSTRACT
Exhibitions write art history. This is especially true for one of the earliest monographic exhibitions in history: the Holbein exhibition of 1871. The controversy which eventually led to the exhibition in 1871 was fundamental for the institutionalization of art history. It rightly holds a place among the canonical topics in the discipline's historiography: 'the most bitter and most extended [controversy] that has ever been aroused by a work of art', a 'crisis of art history', 'a touchstone for the young art history', 'art history's turning point', the 'founding moment of academic art history' and so on. The first concrete plans for a Holbein exhibition date back to 1869. However, as a result of conflicting interests, the Darmstadt Madonna was first shown in Munich, being one of the highlights in an exhibition of Old Masters, alongside photographs of the Dresden Madonna.
