Johann Joachim Winckelmann on Art, Architecture, and Archaeology

by Johann Joachim Winckelmann, David Carter (Translator)

Overview

Modern English translations of several of the most important essays of Winckelmann, one of the fathers of art history and archaeology and a strong influence on Goethe and Schiller and Weimar Classicism.


Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-68) has long been recognized as one of the founders of modern art history and a major force in the development of archaeology and the study of ancient Greek architecture. He also exerted an influence on the Weimar Classicism of Goethe and Schiller, for whom his description of Greek sculpture as evoking "edle Einfalt und stille Grösse" (noble simplicity and a calm greatness) became a watchword. He contributed to modern scientific archaeology through his application of empirically derived categories of style to the analysis of classical works of art and architecture, and was one of the first to undertake detailed empirical examinations of artifacts and describe them precisely in a way that enabled reasoned conclusions to be drawn about ancient societies and their cultures. Yet several of his important essays are not available in modern English translation. The present volume remedies this situation by collecting four of Winckelmann's most seminal essays on art along with several shorter pieces on the topic, two major if brief essays on architecture and one longer essay on archaeology. Paired with this is an introduction covering Winckelmann's life and work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640142190
Publisher:	Boydell & Brewer, Limited
Publication date:	06/10/2025
Series:	Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture , #142
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

David Carter is a retired headteacher and school inspector who taught history. He has written scripts and produced programmes for local radio. His research has covered many aspects of local history and was used in resource packs for schools. He now focuses on military, local and family history.

David Carter is a retired headteacher and school inspector who taught history. He has written scripts and produced programmes for local radio. His research has covered many aspects of local history and was used in resource packs for schools. He now focuses on military, local and family history.

Table of Contents

Translator's Acknowledgments
Introduction
Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture
Open Letter on Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture
Explanation of Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and the Art of Sculpture and Response to the Open Letter on These Thoughts
More Mature Thoughts on the Imitation of the Ancients with Respect to Drawing and the Art of Sculpture
Description of the Most Excellent Paintings in the Dresden Gallery
Reflections on Art
Recalling the Observation of Works of Art
On Grace in Works of Art
Description of the Torso in the Belvedere in Rome
Treatise on the Capacity for Sensitivity to the Beautiful in Art and the Method of Teaching It
Remarks on the Architecture of the Old Temples at Agrigento in Sicily
Preliminary Report on Remarks on the Architecture of the Ancients
Open Letter on the Herculanean Excavations
Notes
Select Bibliography