Curating the Profane: Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Neoclassical Art Historian and First Curator of a Public Profane Museum

Few contemporary visitors to public art museums consider the religious oddity of most such collections at their inception. From the so-called Elgin Marbles in the British Museum, to the Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Louvre, and the Apollo Belvedere and Laocoön Group in the Vatican Museums, cla...

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Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Ruprecht, Louis A. 1961- (Autore)
Tipo di documento: Elettronico Articolo
Lingua:Inglese
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Pubblicazione: Oxford University Press 2022
In: Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Anno: 2022, Volume: 90, Fascicolo: 1, Pagine: 176-217
(sequenze di) soggetti normati:B Winckelmann, Johann Joachim 1717-1768 / Albani, Alessandro 1692-1779 / Vatikanstadt / Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Museo Profano / Fondazione / Il profano / Arte religiosa / Estetica / Storia 1767-1818
Notazioni IxTheo:AG Vita religiosa
CD Cristianesimo; cultura
KAH Età moderna
KBJ Italia
KDB Chiesa cattolica
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Riepilogo:Few contemporary visitors to public art museums consider the religious oddity of most such collections at their inception. From the so-called Elgin Marbles in the British Museum, to the Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Louvre, and the Apollo Belvedere and Laocoön Group in the Vatican Museums, classical statuary constituted the heart (if not the soul) of most public art museums in the first several generations of the "museum era." In this article, I present archival evidence from the Vatican Library and the Vatican Library’s Secret Archives confirming that Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), better known as a neoclassical evangelist and art historian, was also the semi-secret curator of the Vatican’s first "Profane Museum." Founded in 1767, expanded and completed in 1792, looted by French Revolutionaries in 1797, and repatriated in 1818, this museum first "curated the profane," enabling the domestication of pagan idols, first in the name of fine art and later in the name of national treasure. It thereby offered a casual flirtation with pagan form that would have a very long subsequent cultural reach and influence.
ISSN:1477-4585
Comprende:Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfac002