Winckelmann in Italy: A Slide-Lecture By Bradley Rose

Shortly after Bradley Rose and I became partners in 1980, he came home from the bookstore where he worked with a copy of Wolfgang Leppmann's biography of Johann Joachim Winckelmann. Winckelmann lived in the eighteenth century and is considered the father of art history. Leppmann's desultory treatment of Winckelmann's homosexuality inspired Brad to undertake his own research into Winckelmann's life and work. Pursued over the course of a decade, Brad's gathered sources from various libraries and archives, translated many of Winckelmann's letters from German, and eventually traveled to Rome and Italy to retrace his footsteps. For a while, Brad experimented with writing an historical novel based on his research, but eventually abandoned the project. He did, however, create an illustrated lecture about Winckelmann's life and his queer vision of art and history. Brad was able to present the lecture only a few times before his death in 1996.

Working together, Brad and I made a videotape of the presentation. We projected the slide images onto a screen, and I filmed them with a videocam while Brad narrated. The result is crude by today's standards. If Brad had lived longer we would have been able to make a truly professional presentation using today's powerful desktop computers and software. But for me, this is a precious keepsake; I hope you will enjoy it, as well.

Will Roscoe
November 30, 2009

Download Video: High Quality “MP4” | Low Quality “OGG” (use Firefox to play)

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