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a personal view of my collection |
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.Click individual image for enlarged view and detailed text |
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A classical education has for a long time been drawing from the many cultural achievements of ancient Greece and Rome. It is the foundation of many Western advances in literature, sciences and the performing arts. Late in the 18th century archeology was born, even when at first it was little more than a plundering of artifacts in Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Italy. In Germany, the discoveries of Johann J. Winckelmann brought the artistic splendour of the Greeks and Romans to the attention of a larger population segment. This popularised classical art. Throughout the 19th century this interest flourished throughout Europe and this gave birth to an ever increasing flow of travellers to ancient sites. The art of ancient cultures could still be seen first-hand in ruined buildings, statues in marble and bronze. It was the beginning of modern tourism. Emanating from the European royal courts, who competed for artistic excellence, the old techniques of bronze casting were rediscovered and a revival of classical sculpture became very fashionable. Apart from large-size public sculpture it became possible to own a piece of this revival classical art. This allowed sculpture to become readily available by many. The main centres of bronze foundries were Paris, Rome, London and Berlin. My small German collection depicted here is a personal glimpse at a few examples of that artistic period, often summarised as the Berlin Sculpture School 1786-1914 (Die Berliner Bildhauerschule). Werner Schmidlin |
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