Carl Aldenhoven (25 November 1842 – 24 September 1907) was a German art historian who served as director of the Ducal Library at the Friedenstein Palace in Gotha (1873–1879), the Ducal Museum in the same city (1879–1890) and the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne (1890–1907).
In 1862, whilst studying at Jena, he joined the Burschenschaft Arminia auf dem Burgkeller.
That catalogue was then kept up-to-date until 1945 and proved an invaluable source for documenting post-war losses, mainly Soviet looting.
[2] In 1890 he moved to Cologne to take up a director's post there, where he focussed on research into that city's school of painting.
[4] Later, Aldenhoven had a plaster bust made by Johann Baptist Schreiner (1866–1935), which he bequeathed to the museum after his death in Cologne.