A good marble portrait bust of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, by Salvator de Carlis, Rome dated 1808

carved with attentive and earnest expression, the lower front chiselled with sitter's identity IOHANN.WINKELMANN, the verso with SALVATOR DE CARLIS.BILDHAUER VON.TRIENT AVSE TIRROL GEMACHT IN ROM.IM IAHR.j808, applied with inventory label numbered 135 in ink

Surface slightly soiled, verso with several chips to lower section, minor rim frits to the front.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The aim of art is beauty, this can only be achieved when individual and characteristic features are subordinated to an artist's general scheme.


Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), the only son of the cobbler Martin Winckelmann and his wife, Anna Maria Meyer, counts among Germany's greatest scientists. His studies had a profound impact on the study of art history and his publications served as great inspiration to Lessing, Herder and Goethe, - many consider him the father of art history as a discipline. Winckelmann is the first to articulate the difference between Greek, Graeco-Roman and Roman art. The rise of the neoclassical style towards the end of the 18th century owes much to his publications from 1755-1768.

Having started his life in great financial difficulty, Winckelmann finally was able to travel to Rome on a pension granted by Augustus III, king of Poland. He arrived in 1755 and started to describe the statues in the Cortile del Belvedere. With the aid of his friend and lover, Anton Raphael Mengs, he studied Roman antiquities. And by introduction through Mengs, great artists of the period, such as Jacques-Louis David and Robert Adam became acquainted with Winckelmann's theories.

The culmination of his writings is the Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums, published in 1764.

The year he travelled North in the company of his friend Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, Winckelmann was murdered in Triest.

The German sculptor Emil Wolff (1802-1879) cast the same portrait in bronze of Winckelmann and it is likely that both, the present bust and that by Wolff are based on a marble bust by Friedrich Wilhelm Doell (1750-1816), preserved in the Campidoglio in Rome.