Antal Hekler was a Hungarian/German classical archaeologist and art historian.
Education
He wrote his doctoral thesis in political science in 1903 and then studied classical archaeology in Munich under Adolf Furtwängler, where he wrote his second doctoral thesis, before he returned to his birthplace Budapest, where he first worked at the city’s national museum and later held a chair for Christian archaeology and history of art at the University of Budapest.
Career
He went on dedicating himself to ancient art, but also to Hungarian art history. At Hekler’s instigation the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts purchased 135 Greek, Roman and Italian sculptures from the Munich collection of Paul Arndt in 1908. Later another 650 terracotta sculptures were added from Arndt’s collection.
His book Die Bildniskunst der Griechen & Römer (“Greek and Roman Portraits”), published in Stuttgart and London in 1912 soon was to become a widespread standard work, also translated into other languages.
Membership
German Archaeological Institute. Hungarian Academy of Sciences]
He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.