WINCKELMANN, JOHANN JOACHIM (I 717-1768) , German archaeologist, born at Stendal, Prussian Saxony, on Dec. 9, 1717, the son of a poor shoemaker. He attended a gym nasium at Berlin and the school at Salzwedel, and in 1738 was induced to go as a student of theology to Halle. He then held various teaching posts. Winckelmann's study of ancient literature had inspired him with a desire to visit Rome. He became librar ian to Cardinal Passionei in 1754, and embraced Catholicism.
In 1755, before leaving for Rome, Winckelmann published his Gedanken Fiber die Nachahnung der griechischen W erke in Malerei and Bildhauerkunst ("Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture"), followed by a pre tended attack on the work, and a defence of its principles, nom inally by an impartial critic. Augustus III., elector of Saxony and king of Poland, granted him a pension of 2oo thalers to con tinue his studies in Rome.
He gradually acquired an unrivalled knowledge of ancient art. In i76o appeared his Description des pierres gravees du feu Baron de Stosch; in 1762 his Anmerkungen Fiber die Baukunst der Alten ("Observations on the Architecture of the Ancients"), including an account of the temples at Paestum. In 1758 and 1762 he visited Naples, and from his Sendschreiben von den herculanischen Entdeckungen (1762) and his Nachricht von den neuesten her culanischen Entdeckungen (1764) scholars obtained their first real information about the treasures excavated at Pompeii and Herculaneum.
His masterpiece, the Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums ("History of Ancient Art"), issued in 1764, was soon recognized as a permanent contribution to European literature. In this work
Winckelmann sets forth both the history of Greek art and the principles on which it seemed to him to be based. Many of his conclusions based on the inadequate evidence of Roman copies have been modified or reversed by subsequent research, but the fine enthusiasm of the work, its strong and yet graceful style, and its descriptions of works of art give it enduring value. It was read with intense interest by Lessing, who had found in Winckel mann's earliest works the starting-point for his Laocoon.
In 1768 Winckelmann went to Vienna, where he was received with honour by Maria Theresa. At Trieste on his way back he was murdered in an hotel by a man named Arcangeli to whom he had shown some coins presented by Maria Theresa (June 8, 1768). He was buried in the churchyard of the cathedral of St. Giusto at Trieste.