Winckelmann’s influence on the Neoclassical reception of Greek vases

Abstract

While Johann Joachim’s Winckelmann influence on the Neoclassical taste for antiquities and its dissemination north of Italy is well known, it is rarely considered with regard to the study, acquisition, and use of ancient Greek vases. This article seeks to redress this lacuna, considering his enthusiasm for ancient Greek vases, known in his time as Campanian because of their findspots, visits to Neapolitan collections, and encouragement of others’ acquisition of these antiquities. It considers his introduction of these vases into his History of the Art of Antiquity (1764) and its revision, the value he and his predecessors put on such archaeological materials for the purposes of autopsy, his comparison of their drawings to those of Raphael, thus elevating the perceived and actual value of these otherwise humble antiquities. It also addresses Winckelmann’s precluded influence on the dissemination of the Neapolitan and Sicilian opinion, based on the evidence of inscriptions, that ‘Campanian’ and some other vases found in Italy were produced by ancient Greeks.