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Journal of the History of Ideas.
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Antiquarianism, the History of
Objects, and the History of Art
before Winckelmann
ThomasDaCosta Kaufmann
523
2001byJournal
Copyright of theHistoryof Ideas,Inc.
524 Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann
Wolf Lepenies once described this claim as one of the many foundational
myths of the Enlightenment and presented instead some parallels between the
writing of art history and natural history in the eighteenth century.2As interest
in the historiography of art has revived, publications have continued to pour
forth on Winckelmann.3 Yet the critique suggested by Lepenies has largely not
been followed. Winckelmann's claim to originality remains a starting or major
turning point for most accounts of the history of the discipline of art history.4
Altertiimemhandeln,verh6renentwedernurdasjenige,wo Gelehrsamkeitanzubringenwar,oder
wenn sie von der Kunst reden, geschiehet es theils mit allgemeinen Lobspriichen,oder ist ihr
Urtheil auf fremdefalsche Griindegebauet."All translationsare the author's.
2 See Wolf Lepenies, "Fast ein Poet: JohannJohannJoachimWinckelmannsBegriindung
der Kunstgeschichte,"in Autorenund Wissenschaftlerim 18. Jahrhundert(Munich, 1988), 91-
120, and "Der andereFanatiker.Historisierungund Wissenschaftlichungder Kunstauffassung
bei JohannJoachimWinckelmann,"Ideal und Wirklichkeitder bildendenKunst im spdten 18.
Jahrhundert(FrankfurterForschungenzur Kunst,XI), ed. HerbertBeck, Peter C. Bol, and Eva
Maek-Gerard(Berlin, 1982), 21-29.
3 See Alex Potts, Flesh and the Ideal: Winckelmann and the Origins of Art History (New
Haven, 1994), "PoliticalAttitudesandthe Rise of Historicismin ArtTheory,"ArtHistory(1978),
191-213; "Winckelmann'sConstructionof History,"Art History, 5 (1982), 377-406; "Vie et
mortde l'artantique:Historicit6et beau ideal chez Winckelmann,"in Winckelmann: la naissance
de I'histoire de l'art a I'epoque des Lumieres.Actes du cycle de confirences prononcees d
l 'Auditoriumdu Louvredu 11 decembre1989 au 12fevrier 1990, ed. EdouardPommier(Paris,
1991), 9-38; and "Winckelmann'sInterpretationof the History of Art in its EighteenthCentury
Context"(Ph. D. diss., WarburgInstitute,University of London, 1977). See also Herbertvon
Einem, "Winckelmannund die Wissenschaft der Kunstgeschichte," and Max L. Baeumer,
"Klassizitit und republikanischeFreiheit in der aul3erdeutschenWinckelmann-Rezeptiondes
18. Jahrhunderts," in JohannJoachim Winckelmann 1717-1768, ed. ThomasW. Gaehtgens(Ham-
burg, 1986), 315-26, and 195-211; Michael Fried, "AntiquityNow: Reading Winckelmannon
Imitation,"October,37 (1986), 87-97; FrancisHaskell, "Winckelmannet son influence sur les
historiens," and Michel Espagne, "La diffusion de la culture allemande dans la France des
Lumieres.Les amis de J.-G. Wille et l'echo de Winckelmann,"in Winckelmann,ed. Pommier,
83-99 and 101-35; MariaFancelli, "Winckelmannnel giudizio di Goethe,"in J.J. Winckelmann
tra letteraturae archeologia (Venice, 1993), 31-45; Whitney Davis, "WinckelmannDivided:
Mourningthe Death of Art History,"in Whitney Davis et al. (ed.), Gay and Lesbian Studies in
Art History (New York, 1994), 141-59 (originallypublishedin KunstlerischerAustausch/Artis-
tic Exchange, ed. Thomas Gaehtgens [Berlin, 1993], 673-80); II ManoscrittoFiorentinodi J.J.
Winckelmann: Das Florentiner Winckelmann-Manuskript, intro.MariaFancelli, ed. Max Kunze
(Florence, 1994); HeinrichDilly, "1738: Vers une topographiede la notion d'art,"Histoire de
I'histoire de l'art de 1'Antiquiteau xviiie siecle, ed. EdouardPommier(Paris, 1995), I, 303-26;
EdouardPommier,"Winckelmann:des vies d'artistesa l'histoirede l'art,"in Les Viesd'artistes,
ed. MatthiasWaschek(Paris, 1996), 207-36; JeffreyMorrison, Winckelmannand the Notion of
Aesthetic Education (Oxford, 1996); Barbara Steindl, "Zwischen Kennerschaft und
Kunsthistoriographie. Zu den Werk-beschreibungen bei WinckelmannundCicognara,"in Johann
DominicusFiorillo unddie romantischeBewegungenvon 1800 (G6ttingen,1997), 96-113.
4 The thesis that Winckelmanncreateda
completely new history of art is for example re-
statedin the most recent edition of Udo Kultermann,Geschichteder Kunstgeschichte.DerWeg
einer Wissenschaft(Munich, 19903),53ff, and GermainBazin, L'histoirede I'histoirede l'art
(Paris, 1986), 94ff. ThomasDaCostaKaufmann,"BeforeWinckelmann:Towardsthe Originsof
the Historyof Art,"Knowledge,Science and Literaturein the Early ModernPeriod, ed. Gerhild
Scholz Williams and StephanK. Schindleret al. (Chapel Hill, 1996), 71-89, and "Antiquarian
ConnoisseurshipandArt Historybefore Winckelmann:Some Evidence fromNorthernEurope,"
Antiquarianism 525
made history subservientto object"and "set out to explain a cultureby its objects."Haskell also
draws Winckelmanninto his account, History and its Images, 217, of the "artsas an index of
society."
1
Winckelmann,Geschichte der Kunst, ed. cit., 10: "Es sind einige Schrifen unter dem
Namen einer Geschichte der Kunst an das Licht getreten: aber die Kunst hat einen geringen
Antheil an derselben, denn ihre Verfasserhaben sich mit derselbennicht genug verkehrt,und
k6nntenalso nicht geben, als was sie aus Bfichem, oder von Sagenhorenhalten.An das Wesen
und zu dem Innernder Kunst fiihretfast kein Scribent...."
12
Kaufmann,"BeforeWinckelmann."
13
E.g., Potts, "Winckelmann'sInterpretation";and Haskell, History and its Images.
14 Joachimvon Sandrart, L 'AcademiaTodescadella Architectura,Scultura& Pittura: Oder
TeutscheAcademiederEdlen Bau- Bild- undMahlerey-Kiinste(3 vols.; Nuremberg,1675-1679).
15Wilhelm
Waetzoldt,Deutsche Kunsthistoriker(Berlin, 19863),23-42.
Antiquarianism 527
16
Waetzoldt,Deutsche Kunsthistoriker,42.
17 Kultermann,Geschichteder
Kunstgeschichte,30-31.
8 Roberto
Salvini, "L'ereditadel Vasaristoriografoin Germania:Joachimvon Sandrart,"in
II Vasaristoriografo e artista (Attidel congresso internazionalenel IV centenario della morte
1974) (Florence, 1976), 759-71.
19ChristianKlemm, Joachim von Sandrart.Kunst WerkeundLebensLauf (Berlin, 1986).
20Klemm, "PfadedurchSandrartsTeutscheAcademie,"in Joachim von SandrartTeutsche
Academie der Bau- Bild- und Mahlerey-KiinsteNiirnberg 1675-1680 in urspriinglicherForm
neugedrucktmiteinerEinleitungvon ChristianKlemm(Nordlingen,1994),9-32, withbibliography.
528 ThomasDaCosta Kaufmann
21
Waetzoldt,24, also comparesSandrartto Samuel von Pufendorfand HermannConring.
22
Klemm, "Pfade,"12, 19: "so miissen wir denn Sandrartals Geschichtsschreiberwohl zu
den halb dilettantisch Material haufenden 'Polyhistoren' seines Jahrhundertsrechnen, ganz
unberiihrtvon den zukunftweisendenStr6mungen,die sich damals in Paris anbahnten."
23
Klemm, "Pfade,"20; also 28, n. 148, describes this genre as a "schwer verdaulichen
Literaturgattung" but also establishesthe direct contactsthat Sandrarthad with polyhistors.
24 Allan Ellenius, De Arte Pingendi: Latin Art Literaturein
Seventeenth-centurySweden
and its InternationalBackground(Uppsala, 1960); and Klemm, "Pfade."
25See Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann,TopicaUniversalis.Eine Modellgeschichtehumanis-
tischer und barocker Wissenschaft(Hamburg,1983).
Antiquarianism 529
All the famed [writers]who have experience with history have made
known to the world how highly necessary is the study and knowledge
of medals, because they alone give the stampof truthin the history of
the ancients,and more credence is often to be placed in a medal, than
in diverse authorsor books. For even though they are no doubt mute,
still their forms and reverses speak with more certainty.They settle
accounts in dubious matters,they light upon history with pure truth,
and they never are silent. Indeed,with theirtemperthey outlastevery-
thing imaginable,and show at the same time pure truthtogetherwith
the excellence and immortalityof the artof imageryin a small piece of
metal. Thereforethe most excellent scholarshave all had recourseto
lessons in metal....34
35
TeutscheAcademie,I, pt. 3, 100ff; and see Michael Sullivan, TheMeeting of Easternand
WesternArt (London, 1973), 93ff.
36See Erik
Iversen,TheMythofEgypt and its Hieroglyphsin EuropeanTradition(Princeton,
19932), 88ff: Kircher'scompendiumis his OedipusAegyptiacus (3 vols.; Rome, 1652-54); he
contributedto the study of EastAsia as well, e.g., China monumentis... illustrata(Amsterdam,
1667), cited by Sandrartin TeutscheAcademie, II, pt. 1, 55.
37 See,
e.g., Bartholomaeus Keckermann, De Natura et Proprietatibus Historiae
Commentarius,in Opera Omnia (2 vols.; Genoa, 1614), II, col. 1309-88; also Kaufmann,
"Eurocentrismand Art History? Universal History and the Historiographyof the Arts before
Winckelmann,"in Memoryand Oblivion:Proceedings of the XXIXthInternationalCongressof
theHistoryofArtheld in Amsterdam1-7 September1996, ed. WesselReininkandJeroenStumpel
(Dordrecht,1999), 35-42.
38 Klemm, "Pfade,"12 with referenceto TeutscheAcademie, I, pt. 1, p. 5, and
pt. 2, p. 7.
39 TeutscheAcademie, I,
pt. 2, pp. 5-10.
532 ThomasDaCosta Kaufmann
46
FrankWolf Eiermann,"Die Veroffentlichungender NiimbergerMahler-Academievon
Jacobvon Sandrartbis JohannJustinPreisler(1662-1771)" (M. A. thesis, Friedrich-Alexander-
Universitit Erlangen-Niimberg,1992).
47 See Christian
Klemm, "Sigmundvon Birkenund Joachimvon Sandrart.ZurEntstehung
der TeutschenAcademie und zu anderenBeziehungen von Literatund Maler,"in Der Franken
Rom, NiirnbergsBliitezeit in der zweiten Hdlfte des 17. Jahrhunderts,ed. John Roger Paas
(Wiesbaden,1995), 289-313; andsee FrankWolf Eiermann,"Die NiimbergerMahler-Academie
und die UniversitatAltdorf im 17/18. Jahrhundert," Friihneuzeit-info,9 (1993), 97-98.
48 Schwarz'swritings on
manuscriptsare collected in De ornamentislibrorumet varia rei
librariae veterumsupellectile dissertationumantiquarium...,ed. Johann ChristianLeuschner
(Leipzig,1756); see also GustavPhilipp Negelein, "De VetustoQuodamDiptycho Consulariet
Ecclesiastico"(Ph. D. diss., Altdorf, 1742).
49CommentatioHistorica de CoronistamAntiquis,quamModernis... Speciatimde Origine
et Fatis Sacrae, Angelicae et Apostolica Regni Hungariae Coronae(Jena, 1712). Anothercon-
temporarydissertationon the crown of Hungarywas writtenat Altdorf and promotedby D. G.
Moller: ConradDeichler, "DisputatioCircularisde Corona Hungarica"(Ph. D. diss., Altdorf,
1709).
50D. B. Major, UnvorgreifflichesBedenckenvon Kunst- und Naturalien-Kammern(Kiel,
1674).
51 At Altdorf in 1704 Friedrich
Sigismund Wurffbaindefended a dissertationon Kunst-
kammersand the history of collecting that had probablybeen writtenby thepraeses, Professor
D. G. M6ller: "Dissertatio de Technophysiotameis-von Kunst-und Naturalien-Kammem"
(Altdorf, 1704). Otherdissertationsare discussed in "BeforeWinckelmann,"76-78.
534 ThomasDaCosta Kaufmann
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Antiquarianism 535
59Geschichteder Natur und Kunst. Sammlungvon Natur- und Medicin. Wieauch hierzu
geh6rigen Kunstund Literatur-Geschichten,e.g., on the manufactureof paint (1718), 730.
60Neue Versuchenutzlicher
Sammlungenzu der Natur- und Kunst-geschichtesonderlich
von Obersachsen,Schneeberg,1747ff. See, forexample,"Sammlungvon NeuenNaturundKunst-
Erfindungen,und andem Kunst-Stiicken,"Neue Versuche,6 (1749), 493ff; "KurtzeNachricht,
von dem Leben, des beriihmtenJohannesMariaeNosseni, Churfurstlichen.Sichs Baumeister,"
Neue Versuche, 1 (1747), 25-31; "M. G. F. Millers' Bericht, wegen derer am Altar zu
Ehrenfriedersdorffbefindlichen merckwiirdigenAlterthiimer.Nebst einerFigur,"Neue Versuche,
5 (1748), 371-77.
61Kern-Historiealler Freien Kunstenund Sch6nen Wissenschaften,VomAnfang der Welt,
bis auf unsereZeiten (Leipzig, 1748).
62 See KurtKarl Eberlein,Die deutsche
Litterdrgeschichteder Kunst im 18. Jahrhundert.
Ein Beitrag zur Geschichteder Kunstwissenschaft(Karlsruhe,1919), 14, Waetzoldt,Deutsche
Kunsthistoriker,45ff, and Juliusvon Schlosser,La Letteraturaartistica (Florence, 19673),481,
491, also discussChristas a forerunnerof Winckelmann,andWaetzoldtalso discusseshis method.
Antiquarianism 539
63
See, e.g., NoctiumAcademicarumlibri sive speciminaquattuor(Halle, 1729), e.g. Speci-
men II "quo ex antiquitatequaedammonumentaillustrantur";Imagines Musarum... (Leipzig,
1739); and the posthumously collected Abhandlungen iiber die Litteratur und Kunstwerke
vornemlichdes Altertums(Leipzig, 1776).
64JohannFriedrichChrist,Anzeige undAuslegungder Monogrammisten... (Leipzig, 1747),
page //2; also Phil. Dan. Lippert,Dactylothecae UniversalisSignorumExemplisNitidis Redditae
... (Leipzig, 1755), intro.,x-xi.
65
Christ,Anzeige undAuslegung,page //4.
66
Justi, Winckelmannund seine Zeitgenossen,I, 287.
540 ThomasDaCosta Kaufmann
where ideas criticalof certainforms of eighteenth-centurydecorationare to be
found which resemblethe anti-rocococlassicizing remarksof Winckelmann's
own Gedankeniiberdie Nachahmungder griechischen Werke.In his own book
Krubsaciusrepeatsnotionsthathe hadapparentlyalreadyexpressedin the 1740s,
thus independent of and antecedent to Winckelmann. The publication of
Krubsacius'sbook on ornament,even more directly pertinentto questions of
historiography,antedates the appearanceof Winckelmann'sGeschichte der
Kunstdes Altertumsby five years.
Krubsacius'sis the first history of the "decorative"arts.Krubsaciusdeals
primarilywith architecturalornament.While he does mentionindividualarchi-
tects, his accountis primarilyof forms of decorationitself. He tracesthe devel-
opmentof ornamentfrom its origins to the present.Krubsaciuspresentsmate-
rialfoundthroughoutthe world,andoftengives descriptionsof individualmonu-
ments to point up the critiqueexplicit in his history.His descriptionof theArch
of the Goldsmithsin Rome (theArcusArgentarii)as an example of late antique
decadence in design is one characteristicexample of his classicizing history.67
Krubsaciusthus presents a history of objects within an argumentwhose aes-
thetic biases resemblethose of Winckelmann.
More significant, his account also anticipates Winckelmann's history.
Krubsaciuspresentsnot only a critiqueof designs foundin the past as well as in
present-dayEuropebut also a chronologicalaccountof his subjectestablished
aroundthe descriptionof a category of objects that is accommodatedto a his-
torical schema. This is the familiar scheme of origin, rise, and fall. Like
Winckelmann, Krubsacius imposes this pattern onto a universal historical
scheme, one that moreover specifically adopts materials from various lands
and countries,as did Winckelmann.
Krubsaciusalso expressly cites as a source Fischer von Erlach'sEntwurff
einer historischenArchitekturof 1721.68Krubsacius'sallusion to Fischer von
Erlachis important(thoughhardlyunique)as evidence for Fischer's reception
in the eighteenth century.This is an importantindicationthat there seems to
have been an ongoing discussion of historiographyof the artsin the eighteenth
century,in Germanyas elsewhere, that antedatesWinckelmann.Fischer's vi-
sual history of architecturecan thus be considered,indeed was considered,to
have presenteda history of objects thatantedatesWinckelmann's.And Fischer
von Erlachalso leads back to Sandrart.
This essay has discussed but a few figures active in the German-speaking
world, familiar as well as little known, who antedateWinckelmannin their
contributionsto the historiographyof art. Many other writers who anticipate
aspects of the approachto the study of objects in a historical mannerthat is
67
Gedankenvon dem Ursprung, Wachstumund Verfallder Verzierungenin den sch6nen
Kilnsten(Leipzig, 1759), 21.
68Ibid., 15-16.
Antiquarianism 541
PrincetonUniversity.
69 "BeforeWinckelmann:Towardsthe
Origins of the History of Art."
70See HenningWrede,"DieEntstehungderArchaologieunddas Einsetzenderneuzeitlichen
in Geschichtdiskurs,2, AnfdngemodernenhistorischenDenkens, ed.
Geschichtsbetrachtung,"
WolfgangKiittler,Jom Riisen, and ErnstSchulin (Frankfurta. M., 1994), 95-119.