Career
Born in Latvia, von Blanckenhagen and his family fled to Germany following the Bolshevik Revolution. lieutenant was in German universities that he received his training in Classical archaeology. In 1947, von Blanckenhagen emigrated to the United States and was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.
He would return to Germany, but became an American citizen in 1956.
As a scholar he was best known for his expertise in Roman painting and sculpture - particularly of the Flavian period - and he had a long and distinguished career during which he published numerous books and articles and held several eminent lectureships. At his death, von Blanckenhagen was the Robert Lehman Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.