Allusion and ekphrasis in Winckelmann's Paris description of the Apollo Belvedere

Abstract

As Vout (2006) has recently reminded us in this journal, Johann Joachim Winckelmann's History of the art of antiquity (Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums, 1st ed. 1764) is widely considered to be a foundational text in the history of art. Advertising itself as the first ‘systematic’ account of ancient art in relation to its geographical, social and political circumstances, Winckelmann filled out the well-known Plinian chronology of artists with a new analysis in terms of a succession of period styles, providing a satisfyingly scientific justification for the preference his contemporaries were beginning to accord to the art of the Greeks. Small wonder then that the book was lauded as a classic as soon as it appeared in Germany and was quickly translated into French and Italian. Nevertheless, it is also hardly surprising that this text, which promised nothing less than a ‘new paradigm’ for the study of antique culture, has always presented problems to its readers. These are partly caused by its magnitude of ambition. Titled, first and foremost, a ‘history’, Winckelmann's magnum opus in fact attempts to be many things: part systematic exploration of the social and physical factors that condition the development of all art; part impassioned disquisition on the essence of beauty; part antiquarian catalogue of the greatest surviving works of Greek and Roman art; part manual of aesthetic taste for aspiring contemporary artists. Few books since Winckelmann's History can have combined bold claims about their importance as historical scholarship with detailed instructions on how to draw a perfectly beautiful face.

Spojrzenie na sztukę starożytnych i kategorię piękna w ujęciu Johanna Gottfrieda Herdera (1744-1803) oraz Johanna Joachima Winckelmanna (1717-1768)

“…Jasne jest, że nawiązania i inspiracje sztuką grecką obecne były w każdej epoce, jednak zapoczątkowany przez czterotomowe wydanie Dziejów sztuki starożytnej (1764) neoklasycyzm "odkrył" starożytność na nowo 25 . W kontekście przedstawionych rozważań, szczególnie istotna będzie osoba Johanna Joachima Winckelmanna (1717-1768), uważanego za ojca historii sztuki i wynalazcę nowoczesnej periodyzacji dziejów sztuki czy wreszcie jednego z twórców archeologii naukowej 26 . Poza najważniejszym tekstem wspomnianych Dziejów, zasadniczy z punktu widzenia analizy popularyzacji antyku będzie tekst Myśli o naśladowaniu dzieł greckich w malarstwie i rzeźbie (1755) 27 .…”

Winckelmania: Hellenomania between ideal and experience

“…6 170-1; English translation by Curtis Bowman in xiv-v, slightly modified. 7 On the Torso description in particular and Winckelmann's ekphrastic practice in general, see Pfotenhauer (1995), Borg (1999), Giuliani (1999), Harloe (2007), , Harloe (2013) 86-94, Vollhardt (2013 177-81. 8 See especially the essays 'Erinnerung über die Betrachtung der Werke der Kunst' and 'Von der Grazie in Werken der Kunst', first published in Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften und der freyen Künste in 1759 149-162.…”