The History of Ancient Art, Volumes 1 and 2, is a foundational work of art history that shaped the discipline's development in the West. Drawing on classical sources and direct observation, the author traces the evolution of Greek and Roman art, emphasizing ideals of beauty, proportion, and cultural meaning. These volumes introduced a systematic approach to the study of ancient art and laid the intellectual groundwork for neoclassicism.
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), a German art historian and archaeologist, was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the difference between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. Many consider him the father of the discipline of art history. This volume is the first in a two-volume set.