Births on June 21

Heinrich Wölfflin, Swiss historian and critic (d. 1945)

Heinrich Wölfflin (German: [ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈvœlflɪn]; 21 June 1864, Winterthur – 19 July 1945, Zurich) was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles ("painterly" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of formal analysis in art history in the early 20th century. He taught at Basel, Berlin and Munich in the generation that raised German art history to pre-eminence. His three great books, still consulted, are Renaissance und Barock (1888), Die Klassische Kunst (1898, "Classic Art"), and Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe (1915, "Principles of Art History").

Wölfflin taught at Berlin University, from 1901 to 1912; Munich University, from 1912 to 1924; and Zurich University, from 1924 until his retirement.