History of Ancient Art
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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History of Ancient Art (1764 as Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums) is an art history book on ancient art by German historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann. It was one of the first books written in German to become a classic of European literature.
Winckelmann's masterpiece, the Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums ("The History of Ancient Art Among the Greeks"), published in 1764, was soon recognized as a permanent contribution to European literature. In this work, "Winckelmann's most significant and lasting achievement was to produce a thorough, comprehensive and lucid chronological account of all antique art— including that of the Egyptians and Etruscans." (Haskell and Penny 1981:101.) This was the first work to define in the art of a civilization an organic growth, maturity, and decline. Here, it included the revelatory tale told by a civilization's art and artifacts—these, if we look closely, tell us their own story of cultural factors, such as climate, freedom, and craft. Winckelmann sets forth both the history of Greek art and of Greece. He presents a glowing picture of the political, social, and intellectual conditions which he believed tended to foster creative activity in ancient Greece.
The fundamental idea of Winckelmann's artistic theories are that the end of art is beauty, and that this end can be attained only when individual and characteristic features are strictly subordinated to an artist's general scheme. The true artist, selecting from nature the phenomena suited to his purpose and combining them through the exercise of his imagination, creates an ideal type in which normal proportions are maintained, and particular parts, such as muscles and veins, are not permitted to break the harmony of the general outlines.
