Winckelmann, Johann Joachim (1717–1768)

German art historian. He worked in Rome from 1755. His studies of ancient Greece and Rome were an inspiration for the neoclassical movement, provided the basis for modern art history, and influenced the direction of education in Germany.

Born in Stendal, the son of a cobbler, he spent his early career as a schoolmaster in Prussia. By converting to Catholicism, he was able to move to Rome where he became librarian to the cardinal-secretary of state and, in 1736, president of the collection of antiquities in the Vatican and Vatican librarian.

His main work was a comprehensive study of ancient art in two parts. In his Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks 1755 he defined the essence of Greek art as ‘noble simplicity’ and ‘tranquil grandeur’. In his History of the Art of Antiquity 1764 he defined art as the expression of the ‘spirit of an age’. His ideas, which were widely influential, were later developed by the philosopher Hegel and the art historian Panofsky.

His influence on art itself was mainly in painting, where his interpretation of the Greek ideal inspired many artists of the 18th century, most notably Anton Mengs.