The Father of Art History: Who Was Johann Joachim Winckelmann?

Art history came from the study of aesthetics and visual expression. It was not widely practiced within the regions of Europe till the 15th century. Before this time, people turned to Socrates’ philosophy of art and ancient aesthetics for discussions on these topics. Philosophers, amongst other things, enjoyed discussing and studying cultures through art. These discussions heavily inspired Johann Joachim Winckelmann, his contributions to art history, and the artistic movement known as Neoclassicism.

Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a well-renowned German scholar and archaeologist who is often regarded as the father of art history. He was born in Prussia in 1717. During his years of education, he pursued theology and medicine. He relocated to Rome at the age of 38, and nine years later, he published his book History of Ancient Art. This is the first piece of written material that intertwined art with history—making Winckelmann the first person to consider the connection between culture and art. In this work, he looked at Greek and Roman antiquity by applying various categories of style. By the late 18th century, he gained admiration among the prominent thinkers of his time, including Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Felix Mendelssohn. As a result, his writings and philosophies on art, painting, and sculpture played a pioneering role in the development of art history.

Neoclassical Art

Winckelmann particularly gravitated towards the artistic movement of Classicism, drawn by its profound connection to art created in antiquity. He believed that the ancient Greeks and Romans successfully portrayed the classical ideal. By sharing his ideas in the 18th century, he inspired the artistic movement of Neoclassicism.

In Neoclassical art, figures were meant to flow harmoniously with each other. This style was meant to portray order, virtue, and idealism. The color palette was made up of strong red, blue, and yellow hues. These colors tend to appear on patterns of drapery, which were specifically inspired by the ideals of Winckelmann about ancient Greek sculpture. The colors are then surrounded by darker and more natural tones such as earthy browns. Neoclassical painters would shy away from rendering figures as deities. Instead, heroism and stoicism were heavily highlighted.

Winckelmann was infatuated with the Greeks from a much younger age, during his time in Prussia. He encountered objects from ancient Greece and discovered his passion for them while working as the librarian of the Prussian count Heinrich von Bünau. Winckelmann was heavily influenced both by The Epic Poems of Homer, and the studies of aesthetics. This exposure brought upon his beliefs that the Greeks understood what the ideal beauty consists of. Emphasizing that this beauty can only be rendered in art within the human form and not through nature. The Greeks are known for their beautiful sculptures of the human form. The Pergamon Altar is a profound example of the classical ideal.

Winckelmann explained that when discussing Greek sculpture, there is a certain sensuality that comes with rendering drapery carefully. This implies that the precise placement of drapery on the figures contributed to conveying a type of sensuality. There was, therefore, a harmony between human anatomy and drapery. The importance of this detail to Neoclassical painters mirrors Winckelmann’s emphasis on translating the essence of harmony into paintings. This is why the most potent pigments appear on drapery in Neoclassical works of art.

Another example of the ancient Greek ideal in the eyes of Winckelmann is the notable work known as Winged Victory of Samothrace which depicts Nike, the Goddess of victory. It was originally created by Pythocritos, son of Timocharis of Rhodes, as an offering to the gods in the hope of finding sanctuary on the isle of Samothrace. We witness in this sculpture the two dominant aspects of the human form alongside drapery, and how the harmonious relationship between them should be rendered. This sculpture is currently housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Sculptures that came out of Rome were particularly interesting when it came to human anatomy and emotional expression. Works such as Michaelangelo’s David, and the statue of Laocoon and his sons, were favored by Winckelmann. They represented all his beliefs and teachings in what art should look like, and what the classical ideal truly is. Winckelmann labeled Laocoon and his sons as an icon of the expressions of human agony, highlighting the emotion on the faces of these subjects as well as their body language.

The myth behind this work of art states that the wooden Trojan horse was built by the Greeks during the Trojan War to break through defenses discreetly, disguised as an offering to the goddess Athena. They managed to enter the city of Troy, with an army hidden inside of the Trojan horse and win the war. Laocoon attempted to warn the Trojans not to accept this gift. He said: Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. This is when the goddess Athena took matters into her own hands and sent giant serpents to kill Laocoon along with his sons.

Winckelmann’s Murder 

At the height of Winckelmann’s fame, he was tragically murdered on his abrupt return from a trip to Munich and Vienna, where he had been awarded by Maria Theresa, the ruler of the Habsburgs. The murder took place during the summer of 1768 while Winkelmann lodged at a local inn, what is known today as the Grand Hotel Duchi d’Aosta, located in Trieste, Italy. Waiting for a ship that was heading to Rome, Winckelmann was killed by a fellow traveler named Francesco Arcangeli. The motive behind this act of murder remains unknown. Winckelmann was buried at the age of fifty, at the churchyard of the Trieste Cathedral. Arcangeli was arrested and sentenced to death not long after.