2021/12/18 by Aris Sarafianos, Sarafianos, Aris
Arts and Humanities · #Historical and Architectural Studies #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
paper · doi:10.48352/uobxjah.00003462
openalex publication_date 2021/12/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
This essay deals with two much misunderstood aspects of Winckelmann’s work, his notion of the relations between art and climate and the fierce disputes his environmental model of culture engendered in Britain. Revisiting present-day suspicions towards Winckelmann’s climate language as a reductive and determinist ‘curiosity’, this essay aims to restore its historical significance as an interactive way of exploring the interconnectedness between the development of art and its changing material contexts, and to reveal its special place in the birth of art history as a discipline. The study of the British reception of Winckelmann’s climate theory remains a rich resource in the critical understanding and historiographical evaluation of his contribution in art history. The controversies it generated produced a mixed and fragmented picture. This essay retrieves the many social, professional, and national interests embedded in these climate-related controversies in art and suggests that such competing motivations marked indelibly understandings of Winckelmann’s art historical model as well as his standing in Britain.