Uploaded July 2013 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
This week Classics Confidential was in Berlin talking to Dr Daniel Orrells about his Humboldt research project on Johann Joachim Winckelmann - the eighteenth-century German art historian who is perceived by many to be one of the founding fathers of the discipline of Classics. Dan tells us why Winckelmann's work was so revolutionary for the field of Art History, how his masterwork Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums ("The History of Art in Antiquity", published in 1764) tied into broader intellectual currents, and how Winckelmann's grand narrative of classical art was problematised and appropriated in later periods. In the second half of the interview we move on to discuss some of Dan's past work on the history of sexuality, focussing on his 2011 book Classical Culture and Modern Masculinity.
This week Classics Confidential was in Berlin talking to Dr Daniel Orrells about his Humboldt research project on Johann Joachim Winckelmann - the eighteenth-century German art historian who is perceived by many to be one of the founding fathers of the discipline of Classics. Dan tells us why Winckelmann's work was so revolutionary for the field of Art History, how his masterwork Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums ("The History of Art in Antiquity", published in 1764) tied into broader intellectual currents, and how Winckelmann's grand narrative of classical art was problematised and appropriated in later periods. In the second half of the interview we move on to discuss some of Dan's past work on the history of sexuality, focussing on his 2011 book Classical Culture and Modern Masculinity.
