	Peter Hertz was the son of Julius Hertz (1842-1920), a wholesale merchant, and his wife Henriette F. Hertz (1850-1921. Hertz became a graduate student at a private college in 1893 and took many philosophy courses. Until 1896, he attended a technological school, while he worked as a brick layer and learned how to be an architect. Then he began independent art historical studies and eventually went to study in 1899 on a three-year trip to Germany and Italy. In 1901 he worked in London, but he began to travel for his studies in 1903, primarily in Italy, but also in the Netherlands.