[1] Born in Latvia, von Blanckenhagen and his family fled to Germany following the Bolshevik Revolution.
[2] In 1947, von Blanckenhagen emigrated to the United States and was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.
As a scholar he was best known for his expertise in Roman painting and sculpture - particularly of the Flavian period -[3] and he had a long and distinguished career during which he published numerous books and articles and held several eminent lectureships.
[4] He wrote multiple books about the art of the Villa of Agrippa Postumus in Boscotrecase.
Von Blanckenhagen was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1981.