Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums

Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums, a monumental and epoch-making work by J. J. Winckelmann, published in 1764. It deals first with the origins of art, then with the art of the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, and Etruscans. Winckelmann next treats Greek art, to which he devotes the greater part of the book, describing many works, especially of sculpture. A number of these are illustrated in line drawings. The erudite and plentifully annotated work establishes the Apolline view of Greek art as noble and serene, which Winckelmann had already adumbrated in his Gedanken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und in der Bildhauerkunst (1755). Anmerkungen über die Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums followed in 1766. G. E. Lessing's Laokoon is extensively concerned with points arising out of Winckelmann's great work, which Goethe took with him to Italy (in an Italian translation) as his guide to the remains of ancient art.