Dutch art historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history.
Johan Huizinga was the son of the first marriage of professor in Physiology and rector of the Groningen University Dirk Huizinga (16 October 1840, Lagemeeden – 15 May 1903, Groningen) and Jacoba Tonkens (30 October 1841, Groningen – 15 July 1874, Den Burg). His mother died at age 32 when he was 2. On 26 July 1876 his father remarried Hermanna Margaretha De Cock (19 March 1847, Winschoten – ?), who he considered his mother. His Baptist father first studied Theology at the Amsterdam Mennonite Seminary, but since religious practice did not appeal to him, he ended with studying natural science and became a professor in Physics and Chemistry in 1876 at the Groningen University.
Johan Huizinga was a bright student that studied Hebrew and Arabic at young age. He studied Dutch and Eastern Letters at Groningen University (1891-1895) and Linguistics in Leipzig (1895-1896). He dissertated 28 May 1897 at Groningen University with the thesis “De Vidûsaka in het Indisch toneel”. He established his reputation with “Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen” (The Waning of the Middle Age), which examines life and thought in France and Holland in the 14th and 15th centuries. The book’s lively and well-modulated style makes it literature as well as history, as is also true of Erasmus (1924), a sympathetic study of a central intellectual figure of the 16th century.
After teaching history in Haarlem and lecturing in Indian literature at Amsterdam, Huizinga was professor of history at Groningen (1905–15). After the loss of his first wife (21 July 1914)he searched for a new environment. In 1915 he went to Leiden where he first was professor, later rector magnificus.
On 8 March 1935 he held a speech in Brussels named “In de schaduwen van morgen” (In the shadow of tomorrow) in which he described the mad cultural climate before WW2 and predicted war and existentialism. The German occupation ended his academic career. In Leiden, which was a center of student protests against Berufsverbote for Jews, colleges were forbidden after 26 November 1940. From 7 Augustus 1942 till 30 October 1942 Huizinga was kept as a hostage in St. Michielsgestel. Because of bad health he was released but he was not allowed go back to Leiden. A colleague offered him a house in De Steeg. Here he wrote “Geschonden wereld” (1945) and an autobiography. He died on 1 February 1945 after a short illness before the Allied Forces liberated the Eastern part of the Netherlands.
Major Works
28 May 1897 – De Vidûsaka in het Indisch tooneel (dissertation).
1919 – “Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen” (1919)translated in German and English (1924)The Waning of the Middle Ages
1924 – “Erasmus and the Age of Reformation”
1927 – “Leven en werk van Jan Veth” was written after the death of his friend, (portrait) painter, art critic and professor in art history and aesthetics Jan Pieter Veth (18 May 1864, Dordrecht – 1 July 1925, Amsterdam).
1935 – “In de schaduwen van morgen” (In the shadow of tomorrow).
1938 – “Homo ludens” (http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/huiz003homo01_01/), translated as Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture.
1945 – “Geschonden wereld, een beschouwing over de kansen op herstel van onze beschaving”
Personal
Johan Huizinga married Jonkvrouw Mary Vincentia Schorer (1877 – 21 July 1914, Haren) on 24 March 1902 at Middelburg. Her father was mayor of Middelburg. They got two sons and a daughter. His eldest son Leonhard Huizinga (3 August 1906, Groningen – 9 June 1980, Wassenaar) became a writer. His son Dirk died in 1920.
He remarried Auguste Alwine Caroline Maria Schölvinck (15 June 1909, Amsterdam – 1979) on 4 October 1937 at Leiden.

Link to Wikipedia biography