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. A film— Winckelmann and Curiosity in the 18th-century Gentleman’s Library— produced by the University of Reading, introduces this project and its outputs. And you can purchase the exhibition catalogue, with the handlist of the exhibition and essays, at the University of Reading Store.

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. Keynote speakers at the Oxford workshop were Professor Elisabeth Décultot (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) and Professor Alex Potts (University of Michigan). Some of these papers are published in Under the Greek sky: New approaches to Winckelmann’s reception and historiography, a special section of the Journal of Art Historiography vol. 25, edited by Fiona Gatty (Oxford) and Amy C. Smith, which is available via open access online.

The online exhibition was 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.