Winckelmann’s essay of 1755 argues that modern artists can become great only by imitating the Greeks, whose climate, athletic customs and ideal of beauty produced works of noble simplicity and quiet grandeur. This 1765 English version by the young Henry Fuseli adds the author’s mock objections and replies, an account of an Egyptian mummy at Dresden, and short pieces on connoisseurship and grace.
A founding text of art history and of the Greek revival, still quoted wherever classical art is discussed. Download the free EPUB.