Dr. Ulrike Müller Hofstede

Biography

Ulrike Müller-Hofstede is a distinguished professor specializing in early modern European art history with a focus on Italian and French painting and sculpture from the 15th to the 18th century. She completed her studies in European art history, classical archaeology, and French literature, culminating in a doctoral dissertation on the aesthetics from the works of Gavin Hamilton in 1990. Following her promotion, she served as an assistant at Freie Universität Berlin from 1990 to 1997 and later earned habilitation for her research on the polyvalence of Michelangelo's and other renowned sculptors’ works in Florence. She has held various visiting professorships and has been involved in significant projects such as the DFG-funded research group ‘BildEvidenz’. Her teaching encompasses aesthetic concepts of sculpture in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, reflecting her extensive research interests in the theory of the sublime, public monument theory, and cultural anthropology. She has contributed numerous publications, including books and academic articles, to advance the field of art history and its understanding of aesthetic practices across different eras.

Research Interests