Translators of Ruins: Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Karl Friedrich Schinkel
My doctoral dissertation focuses on the verbal and visual narratives derived from how ruins were perceived and studied by Winckelmann in the eighteenth century and Schinkel in the nineteenth century on German soil. Naming their acts as their translations of ruins, I scrutinize their intellectual backgrounds and works in relation to the social, cultural, and political conditions of their times. I also explore how their classical receptions shaped their approaches and, in this case, the relevant primary sources at the HAB will be especially crucial for my research. While Winckelmann’s writings involved his translation of ruins, Schinkel’s translation became materially embodied in his architectural design.
