“ The popularity which Kinkel enjoyed in his day was hardly justified by his talent; his poetry is of the sweetly sentimental type which was much in vogue in Germany about the middle of the 19th century. ”

“ Having studied theology at Bonn and afterwards in Berlin, he established himself at Bonn in 1836 as privat docent of theology, later became master at the gymnasium there, and was for a short time assistant preacher in Cologne. Changing his religious opinions, he abandoned theology and delivered lectures on the history of art, in which he had become interested on a journey to Italy in 1837. In 1846 he was appointed extraordinary professor of the history of art at Bonn University. ”