DOI article:
Tomaszewicz, Agnieszka: Antiquity in residential architecture of Wrocław in the nineteenth century
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51712#0083
ŠTÚDIE / ARTICLES
ARS 39, 2006, 1
Antiquity in Residential Architecture
of Wroclaw in the Nineteenth Century1 2
Agnieszka TOMASZEWICZ
“Thtts for one who wishes to cognize the perfect beauty,
the study of nature would have to be at least much longer
and much more laborious than exploration of antiquity’’1 —
wrote Johann Joachim Winckelmann in 1755 when
sketching the foundations of his theory, which, in
Germany, changed the approach towards ancient art.
Following the concept of Plato, who rooted beauty in
the idea and spirit, Winckelmann praised the ‘per-
fect beauty’, which he understood as a type of the
synthesis of the real beauty. According to Winckel-
mann, Greek sculptures embodied the beauty of liv-
ing bodies, harmonizing the soul and the flesh, mo-
deled with ‘noble simplicity and quiet grandeur, both in
the arrangement and in expression’.3
Winckelmann wrote his first work on ancient art
Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting
and Sculpture {Gedanken über die 'Nachahmung der grie-
chischen Werke in Malerei und Bildhauerkunst) after see-
ing a small collection of Roman copies of Greek statu-
es, assembled in Dresden by Stanislaw August, the
Elector of Saxony and the King of Poland. He pub-
lished his further works in Rome, where he studied
both the preserved monuments and literary sources
he had access to. Twice he visited archeological sites
in Herculaneum and Pompeii, but he never visited
Greece. However, in his fundamental work History of
Ancient Art {Die Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums)
1 The main dieses of this paper were presented on the Conferen-
ce 'Past Perfected: Antiquity & Its Reinventions’, which was
organized by National Committee for the History of Art in
Los Angeles on April 6-8, 2006.
2 WINCKELMANN,}. J.: Gedanken Uber die Nachahmung der grie-
chischen Werke in Malerei und Bildhauerkunst. Dresden 1755; qu-
oted after: History of Beauty. Ed. U. ECO. Poznan 2005, p. 251.
Winckelmann illustrated not only thorough studies
on the nature of beauty, but also on the periodic divi-
sion of Greek art.4 For the first time in the history of
art-related writing, history of art was treated in
Winckelmann’s work as a historical process condi-
tioned by geographical factors as well as social and
political history. ‘Noble simplicity’, which constituted
the deepest essence of ‘Greek spirit’, could manifest
itself in the works of Greek art and literatuře as well
as in the Athenian democracy. Winckelmann regard-
ed classical art as an universal model and encouraged
everybody to follow it, which, in his opinion, would
produce better results than copying Nature.
Winckelmann’s ‘Greek myth’ was undermined in the
second half of the 19th Century, but several decades
earlier it had had a significant impact on German phi-
losophers, artists and art theoreticians. The works of
‘thefather of archaeology’ influenced the outlooks of some
founders of German Neohumanism. Friedrich Schill-
er, following the thought of Winckelmann, awarded
Greek art with the highest educational rank in the
harmonious development of mankind. In 1805 Jo-
hann Wolfgang Goethe, inspired by Winckelmann’s
works, published an essay entitled Winckelmann and
his Century Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert), in which
he illustrated the discrepancies between the spiritu-
ality of ancient and Contemporary people.5 Winckel-
3 Ibidem, p. 38.
4 LEPPMANN, W.: Winckelmann. Ein Leben für Apollo. Berlin
1996.
5 JAKUSZKO, H. : Greckie i chrzescijanskie zrodla filozofie niemec-
kiej (Greek and Christian Sources of German Philosophy). Lublin
2004, p. 61 i n.
77
ARS 39, 2006, 1
Antiquity in Residential Architecture
of Wroclaw in the Nineteenth Century1 2
Agnieszka TOMASZEWICZ
“Thtts for one who wishes to cognize the perfect beauty,
the study of nature would have to be at least much longer
and much more laborious than exploration of antiquity’’1 —
wrote Johann Joachim Winckelmann in 1755 when
sketching the foundations of his theory, which, in
Germany, changed the approach towards ancient art.
Following the concept of Plato, who rooted beauty in
the idea and spirit, Winckelmann praised the ‘per-
fect beauty’, which he understood as a type of the
synthesis of the real beauty. According to Winckel-
mann, Greek sculptures embodied the beauty of liv-
ing bodies, harmonizing the soul and the flesh, mo-
deled with ‘noble simplicity and quiet grandeur, both in
the arrangement and in expression’.3
Winckelmann wrote his first work on ancient art
Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting
and Sculpture {Gedanken über die 'Nachahmung der grie-
chischen Werke in Malerei und Bildhauerkunst) after see-
ing a small collection of Roman copies of Greek statu-
es, assembled in Dresden by Stanislaw August, the
Elector of Saxony and the King of Poland. He pub-
lished his further works in Rome, where he studied
both the preserved monuments and literary sources
he had access to. Twice he visited archeological sites
in Herculaneum and Pompeii, but he never visited
Greece. However, in his fundamental work History of
Ancient Art {Die Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums)
1 The main dieses of this paper were presented on the Conferen-
ce 'Past Perfected: Antiquity & Its Reinventions’, which was
organized by National Committee for the History of Art in
Los Angeles on April 6-8, 2006.
2 WINCKELMANN,}. J.: Gedanken Uber die Nachahmung der grie-
chischen Werke in Malerei und Bildhauerkunst. Dresden 1755; qu-
oted after: History of Beauty. Ed. U. ECO. Poznan 2005, p. 251.
Winckelmann illustrated not only thorough studies
on the nature of beauty, but also on the periodic divi-
sion of Greek art.4 For the first time in the history of
art-related writing, history of art was treated in
Winckelmann’s work as a historical process condi-
tioned by geographical factors as well as social and
political history. ‘Noble simplicity’, which constituted
the deepest essence of ‘Greek spirit’, could manifest
itself in the works of Greek art and literatuře as well
as in the Athenian democracy. Winckelmann regard-
ed classical art as an universal model and encouraged
everybody to follow it, which, in his opinion, would
produce better results than copying Nature.
Winckelmann’s ‘Greek myth’ was undermined in the
second half of the 19th Century, but several decades
earlier it had had a significant impact on German phi-
losophers, artists and art theoreticians. The works of
‘thefather of archaeology’ influenced the outlooks of some
founders of German Neohumanism. Friedrich Schill-
er, following the thought of Winckelmann, awarded
Greek art with the highest educational rank in the
harmonious development of mankind. In 1805 Jo-
hann Wolfgang Goethe, inspired by Winckelmann’s
works, published an essay entitled Winckelmann and
his Century Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert), in which
he illustrated the discrepancies between the spiritu-
ality of ancient and Contemporary people.5 Winckel-
3 Ibidem, p. 38.
4 LEPPMANN, W.: Winckelmann. Ein Leben für Apollo. Berlin
1996.
5 JAKUSZKO, H. : Greckie i chrzescijanskie zrodla filozofie niemec-
kiej (Greek and Christian Sources of German Philosophy). Lublin
2004, p. 61 i n.
77