DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0231
History of the Society of Dilettanti 109
speculations as to its future, regard must be had to conditions of
the greatly changed conditions under which the archaeol°gt-
work of archaeological research is now carried on, ca "y'
as compared with those which prevailed in the days
when the Dilettanti were its first pioneers. Foreign
nations, especially the German, in course of time
took up the cause of classical archaeology, and
carried on the scientific and speculative parts of
the pursuit, if not its practical and exploratory
parts, with more system and more enthusiasm than
the English. Partly the posthumous fame of
Winckelmann (who died in 1768), partly the
attractions of the Eternal City itself, together
with its importance as a diplomatic centre, caused
Rome to become the seat of a learned and culti-
vated cosmopolitan society, the members of which
devoted themselves enthusiastically to the revival of
the classic past in the light of antiquarian research.
This state of things continued through the last
quarter of the past and during a great part of the
present century. Winckelmann's immediate suc-
cessors, and the continuators of his work at Rome,
were the Italian Ennio Quirino Visconti and the
Dane Zoega, soon after whose death appeared
another Dane, the afore-mentioned Chevalier Brond-
sted. From among the group who in 1811-12,
with the young Cockerell in their company, ex-
plored the temples of Aegina and Bassae—Stackel-
berg, Haller, and Kestner—several took up their
residence for some time at Rome, and the last
named for many years held there the diplomatic
post of Hanoverian representative. The kingdom
of Prussia was represented at the Vatican by three
great scholars and historians successively, Wilhelm
von Humboldt, Niebuhr, and Bunsen, and about
speculations as to its future, regard must be had to conditions of
the greatly changed conditions under which the archaeol°gt-
work of archaeological research is now carried on, ca "y'
as compared with those which prevailed in the days
when the Dilettanti were its first pioneers. Foreign
nations, especially the German, in course of time
took up the cause of classical archaeology, and
carried on the scientific and speculative parts of
the pursuit, if not its practical and exploratory
parts, with more system and more enthusiasm than
the English. Partly the posthumous fame of
Winckelmann (who died in 1768), partly the
attractions of the Eternal City itself, together
with its importance as a diplomatic centre, caused
Rome to become the seat of a learned and culti-
vated cosmopolitan society, the members of which
devoted themselves enthusiastically to the revival of
the classic past in the light of antiquarian research.
This state of things continued through the last
quarter of the past and during a great part of the
present century. Winckelmann's immediate suc-
cessors, and the continuators of his work at Rome,
were the Italian Ennio Quirino Visconti and the
Dane Zoega, soon after whose death appeared
another Dane, the afore-mentioned Chevalier Brond-
sted. From among the group who in 1811-12,
with the young Cockerell in their company, ex-
plored the temples of Aegina and Bassae—Stackel-
berg, Haller, and Kestner—several took up their
residence for some time at Rome, and the last
named for many years held there the diplomatic
post of Hanoverian representative. The kingdom
of Prussia was represented at the Vatican by three
great scholars and historians successively, Wilhelm
von Humboldt, Niebuhr, and Bunsen, and about