Winckelmann and Curiosity in the 18th-Century Gentleman’s Library

Winckelmann and Curiosity in the 18th-Century Gentleman’s Library explores J.J. Winckelmann’s influence on the arts in Europe, especially in Britain, through printed media, architecture and decorative arts. This exhibition, curated by Dr Katherine Harloe, Professor Amy Smith and Dr Cristina Neagu, welcomed visitors weekdays 29 June through 30 November 2018 and is now available online at www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library-and-archives/winckelmann-and-curiosity-18th-century-gentlemans-library

The exhibition was launched with a symposium on Ideals and Nations: New perspectives on the European reception of Winckelmann’s aesthetics, on 29 June 2018, organised by Dr Fiona Gatty and Lucy Russell (Oxford). It was the last of the triplet of worskshops on the theme Under the Greek Sky: Taste and the Reception of Classical art from Winckelmann to the present. For details regarding these, please see Imitation and Geographies of Art after Winckelmann (London) and Spreading good taste: Winckelmann and the objects of dissemination (Reading). Keynote speakers at the Oxford workshop were Professor Elisabeth Décultot (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) and Professor Alex Potts (University of Michigan).

The online exhibition is being launched with a talk by Professor Amy C. Smith (University of Reading) on Drawing and Winckelmann’s taste for elegant simplicity on 20th November 2018 at 5:15pm in the Upper Library at Christ Church. All are welcome. The event is free of charge, but spaces are limited. To book a place, please contact Dr Cristina Neagu, the Keeper of Special Collections at Christ Church at cristina.neagu@chch.ox.ac.uk.