Biering & Brinkmann Verlag: Buchpublikationen

Corpus der antiken Kunstwerke, die Johann Joachim Winckelmann und seiner Zeit bekannt waren

Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) is considered to be the founder of History of Art and Archaeology. Since 1755 he worked in Rome, first for Cardinal Albani and later he administered the Antique Collection of the Vatican. We can thank him for the first scientific re-search on antique art in the form of a history of style.
For the Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance (CENSUS), particular basic research on the history of archaeology and on the subsequent influence of antique works of art has been carried out. The highly respected Winckelmann Society, situated in his birthplace at Stendal in Germany, has built up this database, intended as a supplement to the Census, since 1995. The German Research Community (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) financed the scientific work. The target was to process all the antique monuments mentioned in Winckelmann's works, together with the history of their influence. So far 40,000 records for 2,200 monuments and 12,000 documents have been processed, enriched by 4,000 images.
Every object, i.e. sculptures, reliefs, vessels and arte- facts is saved in the database together with a selection of information. This does not only include the archaeological information such as dating and importance of an object. Notice has been particularly taken of the history of these objects in modern times. In addition to information on the finding place and different ownerships and exhibition sites, any modern restoration or damage is also mentioned. To round off the information there are also digitalised photographs of the individual antiques. Parallel to the objects, copperplate prints, etchings and drawings, which illustrate the old monuments, were also processed. There is also considerable information on these antique documents, for example regarding tech-nique, dating, artist, present location, together with digitalised photographs, so that it is possible to compare the original and the drawing or print on the monitor.
The Dyabola Programme makes it possible for researchers to proceed according to their individual style. It is possible to move freely within the data. This means that it is just as possible to call up all the antique documentation on a certain mythological figure, or all the prints of a certain 18th Century artist, or all the monuments contained in a particular collection, or to cite the antiques which were verified through the Winckelmann works and thus to prepare a commentary on the antiques.
The database is complemented through the research work on the historic-critical Winckelmann publication, which is carried out by the Stendal branch of the Mainz Academy of History of Literature (Akademie der Wissenschaften der Literatur) together with the Winckelmann Society. Update is foreseen at two-yearly intervals.

A further project planned is the processing of the entire reception history of antique art which follows on from the Renaissance and thus the collection of the CENSUS database.

Besides online access an introducing manual (german only) exists.