Johann Michael Adolf Furtwängler (30 June 1853 – 10 October 1907) was a German archaeologist, teacher, art historian and museum director.

Furtwängler was born at Freiburg im Breisgau,[1] where his father was a classical scholar and schoolteacher;[2] he was educated there, at Leipzig and at Munich, where he was a pupil of Heinrich Brunn, whose comparative method in art criticism he much developed.

[2] In 1879, he published with Georg Loeschcke Mykenische Thongefäβe, a complete publication of the Mycenaean pottery finds on Aegina.

By noting the recurrence of similar vases within a variety of strata Furtwangler was able to use these sherds as a tool for dating sites.

The same year, his catalogue of the Greek pottery of the Antikensammlung Berlin, Beschreibung der Vasensammlung im Antiquarium (2 vols.)

[citation needed] His 1891 reconstructions of the Lemnian Athena by Phidias were celebrated but have subsequently occasioned dispute; they may be found in the Dresden Albertinum.

[1][10] Furtwängler's students formed an outstanding group among the next generation of classical art historians and archaeologists, and his published research was of even wider influence.