"Christ Church Gentlemen and Their Collections" in Winckelmann and Curiosity in the 18th-century Gentleman's Library, edited by Katherine Harloe, Cristina Neagu and Amy Smith (2018). (original) (raw)

This volume accompanied the exhibition open in the Upper Library at Christ Church from 26 June to 26 October 2018. Like many antiquarians of his day, the German art historian and archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) first learned about the ancient world through immersion in literature. As a teacher then librarian in his native Germany, Winckelmann encountered the classics primarily through literary texts, as well as the souvenirs—coins, gems and figurines—that Grand Tourists and other travellers had brought north from their visits to Italy. Once he arrived in Rome, where he rose to prominence at Prefect of Antiquities in the Vatican, Winckelmann studied the remains of Greek, Graeco-Roman and Roman art on a larger scale. Through personal contacts, letters and other writings, Winckelmann influenced his and subsequent generations of scholars, aesthetes, collectors, craftsmen and artists both within and beyond Italy.