這篇文章涉及19和20世紀藝術家的形象，並探索在什麼意義上，現代藝術家能被理解，或理解其自身為英雄。作者試圖證實，在18世紀晚期和19世紀早期一種新類型的藝術家出現：這類藝術家視對抗最為惡劣的環境為己任，不僅透過其藝術謀生，更透過其藝術促進社會的發展。在引介德國詩人席勒與哲學家黑格爾的「英雄」定義之後，本文討論Rudolf和Margot Wittkower兩本書中的英雄式藝術家的概念，以及由Ernst Kris和Otto Kurz在早期現代史學史中所描述的藝術家英雄化過程。文章接著從德國繪畫史中列舉一些實例：包括Asmus Jacob Carstens、Johann Christian Reinhart及Joseph Anton Koch，這些藝術家即是新古典主義「英雄式風景」的創始者，且在特定意義上他們自己也是「英雄式」的藝術家。Hans van Maree被呈現為最精粹的「英雄式藝術家」典型，在其死後經由Julius Meier-Graefe重要且具影響力的著作《現代藝術的歷史和發展》，以及他題獻給藝術家的三大冊專著而被偶像化。在Julius Meier-Graefe的書寫中，英雄式藝術家成為前衛（藝術）史學史中的核心特徵。本文也同時觸及20世紀的其他「英雄式藝術家」，透過快速瀏覽現代繪畫史最為重要的通史書籍之一，即Werner Haftmann的《20世紀繪畫史》，來思索這些藝術家是如何出現在史學史當中的。
（翻譯：王聖閎）

This essay is concerned with the image of the artist in the 19th and 20th century, and investigates in what sense the modern artist can be understood or understands himself as a hero. The author tries to show that in the late 18th and early 19th century a new type of artist appears on the scene who thinks it is his task to fight against the most unfavourable circumstances, not only to gain a living but also to advance society through his art. After introducing the definition of the hero by the German poet Friedrich Schiller and the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, the article discusses the conception of the heroic artist in two books by Rudolf and Margot Wittkower and the heroization of the artist in early modern historiography as described by Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz. The article then cites some examples from the history of German painting, including Asmus Jacob Carstens, Johann Christian Reinhart and Joseph Anton Koch, the latter inventors of the neo-classical “heroic landscape” and themselves “heroic” artists in a specific sense. Hans van Marees is presented as the quintessential “heroic artist,” one who has been idolized after his death by Julius Meier-Graefe in his important and influential “History of the development of modern art” (1904) and in a monumental three-volume monograph dedicated to this artist. In the writings of Julius Meier-Graefe the heroic artist became a central feature of avant-garde historiography. The article also considers other “heroic artists” of the twentieth century and about how they appear in historiography by taking a quick look at one of the most important surveys of the history of modern painting, Werner Haftmann's “History of painting in the 20th century.”