30153273

Representing Homosexuality: Winckelmann and the Aesthetics of Friendship
Author(s): Simon Richter and Patrick McGrath

Source: Monatshefte, Vol. 86, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 45-58
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
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Representing Homosexuality:
Winckelmann and the Aesthetics of Friendship
SIMON RICHTER AND PATRICK MCGRATH*
University of Maryland, College Park
Perhaps never before has Johann Joachim Winckelmann's putative

homosexuality been as widely debated as now.' Germanists, scholars of
the eighteenth century, art historians, and those engaged in lesbian and
gay studies are wrangling with each other, not with regard to the issue
of his "homosexuality" (which is assumed), but in order to establish the
historically appropriate way of conceiving it. The love that dared not
speak its name has apparently become the love that bears too many.
Prominent in every discussion of homosexuality and doubly con-
founding when pre-twentieth-century historical figures are concerned is
what David Halperin has called "a longstanding (and, some would argue,
sterile) ideological dispute within social science between 'essentialists'
and 'constructionists'."2 Essentialists argue that homosexuality is biolog-
ically determined, "whereas constructionists assume that sexual desires
are learned."3 Thus, either Winckelmann was a gay man who shares an
essential nature with all gays including those of the late twentieth century,
or his sexuality was constructed within a specific historical pattern which
may only indirectly have anything to do with present-day homosexuality.
Both positions have their attractions. The former allows for an unham-
pered identification with Winckelmann as a significant predecessor in gay
history. The latter is more subversive insofar as it rejects an absolute
dichotomy between gay and straight. It questions the adequacy and ap-
propriateness of our conventional models of homosexuality for discussing
both Winckelmann's time as well as our own.
The word "homosexuality" itself is suspect. The fact that the term
was first coined by Kiroly Mhria Kertbeny in 1869 and enjoyed currency
within a context of late nineteenth-century sexual psychopathology sug-
gests that any application to the eighteenth century would be both an-
achronistic and inappropriate. In Winckelmann's own time same-sex re-
lationships or behaviors were named very differently. One spoke of Greek
or socratic (even platonic) love, or perhaps pederasty or Knabenliebe in
Monatshefte, Vol. 86, No. 1, 1994 45

0026-9271/94/0001/0045 $01.50/0
C 1994 by The Board of Regents of The University of Wis
46 Richter and McGrath
its German form.4 The ass

of euphemism; it designat
ways, not only in the liter
Criticism of the use of
from the gay and lesbian
produced alternative conc
and less degrading analysi
rely on the concepts of th
proven to be flexible and
mann's sexual nature, bein
homosocial, in particular
whole range of relationshi
same sex, while leaving op
One type of homosocial r
ing not only Winckelmann
century is friendship. Wh
gether with a number of W
Winckelmann und sein Ja
the subtitle "Freundschaf
towards the "Greek" nat
men. At a time when new terms for same-sex behaviors and relations
proliferate, it might be valuable to re-examine the eighteenth-century
discourse of friendship, for it may be that those who shared this discourse
were far more conscious of its precise suggestive power than most scholars
are aware or willing to admit.6
An extreme and exemplary case of such consciousness is to be found
in the various textual manifestations of Winckelmann's friendship with
a young nobleman by the name of Friedrich Reinhold von Berg.7 A read-
ing of both his private correspondence (with Berg and others) and a
published epistolary essay on aesthetic education, Abhandlung von der
Fdhigkeit der Empfindung des Schinen in der Kunst,8 which was publicly
addressed to von Berg, will establish the record of an effort on Winckel-
mann's part to manipulate the discourses of friendship and aesthetics in
such a way as to link the study of art history with a type of friendship
modelled on his own relationship to von Berg. As modest as this sounds
on the face of it, the implications are quite staggering. Through these
conjoined discourses, Winckelmann spoke to a generation of like-minded
men, who, if they responded to the carefully chosen code words, partic-
ipated in the European institutionalization of homosocial friendship as
aesthetic education. Winckelmann was engaged in nothing less than an
effort to give a name, a profile, and a dignity to his desire; today, we
would say he was coming out. He consciously held himself up as an
example, worthy of imitation by others across Europe. Indeed, we believe
Winckelmann and Homosexuality 47
that Winckelmann's Abhandlung was designed to

tablishing a European homosocial network. The n
of the program are encoded in this text. Given the im
mann's own calculations as to the various effects
our reading of the Abhandlung necessarily entail
the circumstances of its writing. For these reasons
alternately focus on the published text and the co
rounds it.
It all began in the summer of 1762, when a handsome young Li-

vonian nobleman by the name of Friedrich Reinhold von Berg visited
Winckelmann in Rome. It was love at first sight, as we read in his first
letter to Berg:
Ein unbegreiflicher Zug zu Ihnen, den nicht Gestalt und Gewichs allein
erwecket, liel3 mich von dem ersten Augenblicke an, da ich Sie sahe, eine
Spur von derjenigen Harmonie fibhlen, die iber menschliche Begriffe gehet,
und von der ewigen Verbindung der Dinge angestimmet wird."'9
For four weeks Winckelmann served as Berg's cicerone, showing and

explaining the treasures of Rome. At the end of that time, and far too
early in Winckelmann's estimation, Berg and another companion left for
Paris. In a later letter to Berg, he admits that he was inwardly hurt by
the abrupt departure. To a confidante he writes: "Ich lache, aber so wie
Homerus zuweilen seine Helden in Unmuth lachen ll3aet iuber den Vor-
wand mit welchen sich die beyden Herrn aus Rom lo3riBen und wie aus
einem in Brand gerathenen Hause flohen."'0 What drew Berg and others
to Paris, as Winckelmann notes in the same letter, was the promise of
abundant prostitutes. Berg's choice for Paris amounted to a rejection of
classical culture, the overtures of homosocial friendship, and Winckel-
mann himself. The image of the burning house suggests precipitate flight,
perhaps from importunate advances.
Despite the meager substance of their relationship, Berg evidently
made a considerable impression on Winckelmann. Within days of their
separation, Winckelmann writes an impassioned letter that leaves no
doubt as to the tendency of his affection. It becomes clear that Winckel-
mann's understanding of the friendship he proposed and Berg rejected
is unusually intimate. In an initial expression of loss, he identifies himself
with a mother, stressing the filial aspect, even as he occupies the maternal
role:
So wie eine zirtliche Mutter untrostlich weinet um ein geliebtes Kind,

welches ihr ein gewaltthitiger Prinz entreil3t und zum gegenwairtigen Tod
ins Schlachtfeld stellet; eb

mein siuBer Freund, mit Th
He quotes the British poet

as man and woman prize
pacities." These lines are f
Winckelmann's desire. It i
of Cowley's poem for its
Winckelmann goes on to
g6ttliche Trieb, [der] den
daher von vielen ibelverst
of friendship with referen
that Berg read Plato's Ph
g6ttliche Gesprach." In th
male lovers in mythology
phenomenon of love in ex
erotic nature of Winckelm
to give him the opportun
lusively mentionable eroti
mann includes an erotic co
is clear in the interplay o
expression of sensual desir
Wie gliucklich wiurde ich

auf, Sie gehen mit mir sc
Machen Sie mich bald durc
Ihrer Hand ist mir eine h
wollen, ist Ihnen die Zuschr
Ihr Bild und ersterbe.'3
While Berg was still in R

he would memorialize the
his first love letter, he al
lichen Reisen in Italien,"
however, he announces a
schreiben vom niitzliche
Castello anfieng zu entwer
mehr geschehen, und m
Materie gedenken."'4 The
Two months later, in Ja
inform Berg of a new pro
gedruckten Sendschreiben
dem Titel: Romische Brief
higkeit zur Kenntni3 des
this plan that would becom
with Berg. Suspecting that the completion of his

time yet, Winckelmann writes in the same letter
analogous situation in Pindar's tenth Olympian Od
delayed in celebrating Agesidamus, a champion w
Winckelmann, quoting Pindar, "schan von Bildung
tibergolen." He continues: "In der Wahl der Perso
Thebanischen Dichter zu weichen, aber wol in d
die Unsterblichkeit gieng; unterdel3en werde ich
Ihren Namen, Mein su3er Freund, einige Aufm
wecken."'5 The published text does indeed begin w
reference to Olympian 10, implicitly establishing th
poet and celebrated victor for Winckelmann and
insisted that the victor's immortality depends mo
Winckelmann is aware of the power of his patron
final strophe of Olympian 10, from which Wincke
the line about "beauty and grace," actually refers
tainly not missed by sensitive readers.
Nor would they have missed the significance of
the same ode and proposed to Berg as a motto
sage du mir, wo er mir im Herzen liegt!' Ich setze
und es wird also bey wenigen ungegrondeten Ver
nen."'6 There is a complex representational log
request to the muse can be read as a question t
nature is my relationship to Berg? what place does
Thus Winckelmann does want to create the appear
friendship ("it will awaken"), even though it
grounded suspicion"), but then only for those wh
spread of this rumor, then, would be linked to the su
of German culture, something he is quite sure of. I
a puzzle and a challenge to the increasing group o
culture, linking art historical knowledge with th
biguous relationship with Berg. When the text was
was not included, leading Walter Rehm, editor of
to assume that Berg expressed reservations.'7
In March of 1763, Winckelmann writes to Berg
hurried the project, had he known Berg would re
(Berg had injured his foot and was laid up for
wirden es an allen Orten gedruckt gefunden habe
however, plans a more elaborate edition, and, in t
gotiations with his publisher in Dresden, has inform
intention to travel there. "Die Liebhaber und Kenner der Kunst daselbst
werden begierig seyn, den liebenswirdigen Lieflinder zu sehen." Once
again Winckelmann enjoys the prospect of friends who will knowingly
speculate on his relations w

will signify his actualized f
Finally in June, 1763, th
Rome, Winckelmann annou
of his text, now called Von
in der Kunst: "Das Format
damit dieselbe [die Abhand
Michaelis erscheinet, kann
way Winckelmann signific
letter, Winckelmann tells B
men, so versichere ich Ihn
um nicht mehr zu sagen, al
wenn ich meiner Passion h
II
The Abhandlung is a rel

length. Its opening and clos
considerable intimacy and
handlung, however, is dev
a catalog of those rare clas
an education. In our analys
his art-historical discourse
of aesthetic education becom
ship.
Almost from the beginning of the Abhandlung, Winckelmann uses
the term Empfindung or Gefzihl des Schanen as an encoded reference to
homoerotic feeling (i.e., "friendship" in the sense described above). The
rarity of this feeling recalls his discussion of same-sex love in the letters
to Berg as something which is "den mehresten Menschen unbekannt"20
and a virtue, "die itzo unter den Menschenkindern unbekannt ist. Die
christliche Moral lehret dieselbe nicht; aber die Heiden beteten dieselbe
an."21 The discussion of this feeling itself, that is, the ability to "feel"
beauty, takes place within the context of an understated defense of homo-
eroticism. Winckelmann writes:
Da ferner die Menschliche Schrnheit, zur KenntniB, in einen allgemeinen

Begriffzu fassen ist, so habe ich bemerket, daB diejenigen, welche nur allein
auf Schonheiten des Weiblichen Geschlechts aufmerksam sind, und durch
Schonheiten in unserem Geschlechte wenig, oder gar nicht, gerihret werden,
die Empfindung des Sch6nen in der Kunst nicht leicht eingebohren, all-
gemein und lebhaft haben.22
Appreciation for physical male beauty is twice priv

and also as universal or generalizable.
Winckelmann then describes this rare feeling
only found in men who appreciate the beauty of ot
are highly sensual, indeed, almost physiological. In
the original meaning of "sensate cognition" to the
except that its origin is postulated as the sensuou
male lovers.23 The feeling "meldet sich wie ein fli
Haut"24-an image taken directly from the Phaedru
"in wohlgebildeten Knaben eher als in anderen."26
the ability of Cardinal Alexander Albani, Winckel
cipher the stamped profiles ofemperors on coins "
Fiihlen."27 It is described in terms such as "to sti
and it is apparently best understood as being like
over a statue: "Das wahre Gefiuhl des Schdnen gle
Gipse, welcher fiber den Kopf des Apollo gegossen
in allen Theilen beriihret und umgiebt."28 The im
like a total-body experience, according to which th
into a liquid embrace of every square centimete
image could hardly be more sensuous.
This feeling is also rare. Winckelmann takes g
guish those who possess true feeling for beauty fr
"Bey einigen befindet sich diese Fihigkeit in so ge
in Austheilung derselben von der Natur uibergang
konnten." In this connection, he mentions a youn
"vom ersten Range" who, in other words, might
possess it, but did not; similarly, there is Count M
book on Bolognese painters, who might, for this
it, but is not. Winckelmann calls him a "Schwiitzer
rare among native Romans, and, among these,
Nikolaus Ricciolini, ein geborener Romer und e
Talente und Wissenschaft, auch aul3er seiner Kuns
incapable of seeing the obvious beauty (which, of
saw) in the monument to Caecilia Metella. The fee
be prized "als eine seltene Gabe des Himmels."'31
Utilizing the discourse of"feeling" in which the
beauty is argued to be a very rare, all-body exper
lation, heavily associated with homoeroticism, W
elevate his own friendship to a new level of respec
but also attempts to raise homoeroticism in gen
precious possession, even for a Western Christian
of heaven, which he, as one of its infrequent p
describe in such detail.
The second half of Win

develop and educate the fe
for active participation in
vice to his young friend-"
reminder: "Und Ihnen, m
Dieses war Ihr Versprech
prichtigen und belaubten A
genutzte Jugend in Ihrer
ferte."32 The pedagogical i
return of Berg to Rome,
felt friendship. Thus, an e
to homoeroticism.
The ability to feel the beautiful in art requires pedagogical guidance,
for "ohne Lehre und Unterricht [wiirde es] leer und todt bleiben."33 Hence
Winckelmann's repeated attempts to persuade Berg to rejoin him in
Rome, so that he might give him "besondern Unterricht."34 The content
of such instruction would not have been restricted to art history:
Ein einziger Monat Ihres verlingerten Aufenthalts in Rom und mehr Musse,
mit Ihnen, mein Freund, besonders zu sprechen, wOrden diese Freundschaft
auf unbeweglichen Grund gesetzt haben, und alle meine Zeit wire Ihnen
gewidmet gewesen. Demohngeachtet hitte ich mich in starken und schrift-
lich unaussprechlichen Worten erkliren miissen, wenn ich nicht gemerket,
daB ich Ihnen in einer ungewohnlichen Sprache reden wurde.35
This statement occurs directly after a highly charged description of friend-

ship between men. That Winckelmann had wanted to give Berg instruc-
tion in the beauties of the art of Rome is clear; that he further desired
to induct Berg into the mysteries of homosocial friendship must also be
seen as at least equally important to his intentions.
The feeling for beauty, inborn as it is, must be "erweckt" in the
male youth; the feeling does, after all, reside among the "dunkele und
verworrene Riihrungen,"36 a phrase which not only picks up Leibnizian
terminology, but also alludes to the sexual impulses. The word Winckel-
mann chooses in order to identify this function, erwecken, occurs in the
Abhandlung in only two contexts: first, as we have seen, in the context
of awakening the slumbering ability to appreciate beauty, and second,
referring to sexually reproductive behavior. Thus Winckelmann con-
cludes the Abhandlung with a commission both to Berg, and, by exten-
sion, to other homosocial readers: "Erwecken Sie S6hne und Enkel nach
Ihrem Bilde."37 "Erwecken" becomes the hinge between the discourses
of aesthetic education and homoerotic friendship. One cannot decide if
it belongs primarily to the one or the other. Through the aesthetic edu-
cation of a younger man by an older man within the context ofhomoerotic
friendship something like sexual reproduction tak

ing is awakened and sons and grandsons are pr
calls on Berg and like-minded sensitive men to im
into educative and erotic friendships with other b
fact, Winckelmann's commission opens the prosp
pean network of homosocial friendship as aesthet
perpetuated from generation to generation throu
homosocial "reproduction," the creation of Winck
it were. The full European dimension of his prog
in his cataloguing of the artistic rarities of Euro
schooling of this ability. He identifies art works
individuals by name, linking countries througho
virtual catalogue of eighteenth-century cruising ar
homosocial reproduction.
III
While the main body of the Abhandlung spells out the terms of
Winckelmann's program of aesthetic education and homosocial friend-
ship, it is the intimate, personal quality of the opening and closing par-
agraphs, referring specifically to the friendship with Berg, that seem to
allow the reader to catch a glimpse of the program's instantiation.
Winckelmann states that the content of his Abhandlung "ist von Ihnen
selbst hergenommen.... Ihre Bildung lieB mich auf das, was ich
winschte, schlieBen, und ich fand in einem sch6nen Korper eine zur
Tugend geschaffene Seele, die mit der Empfindung des Schonen begabt
ist." Then he explicitly dedicates the Abhandlung to his friend: "Es sey
dieser Aufsatz ein Denkmaal unserer Freundschaft, die bey mir rein ist
von allen ersinnlichen Absichten, und Ihnen bestandig unterhalten und
geweihet bleibet."38 He concludes the essay by stressing the absolute im-
portance of coming to Rome and seeing the precious artworks. "Und
Ihnen, mein Freund, wiansche ich wieder zu kommen. Dieses war Ihr
Versprechen, da ich Ihren Namen in die Rinde eines prichtigen und
belaubten Ahorns, zu Frascati, schnitt." His last charge is that Berg, like
other sensitive readers of his text, awaken "S6hne und Enkel nach Ihrem
Bilde,"39 a project, as we discussed above, of homosocial reproduction.
The Abhandlung deliberately leaves the reader with considerable
latitude for speculation. The picture of Winckelmann carving his lover'
name into a maple tree, as promises are exchanged, is unmistakably
erotic. The tree becomes a sign of their friendship, even as it suffers th
violence of inscription. The image of the inscribed tree duplicates the
writing of the Abhandlung itself, the projection of desire creates a rep-
resentation that far exceeds the basis for that representation.
Very soon after publicati

ters from friends who were curious about the circumstances that led to
his Abhandlung, though his explanations are variously nuanced. To Leon-
hard Usteri, who had once also engaged Winckelmann's pedagogical in-
terests during an extensive Roman sojourn, he writes:
Der Punct von der neuen Schrift ist folgender; ich muB es nur bekennen.
Ich war verliebt, und wie! in einen jungen Lieflinder, und versprach ihm
einen Brief unter andern Briefen; das ist, ich wollte ihm alle m6gliche Zei-
chen meiner Neigung geben; und ich hitte ihm vielleicht die Zuschrift der
Geschichte selbst zugesaget, wenn ich hitte indern konnen.40
Usteri seems to have responded with some report of speculation among

the German readership to which Winckelmann then replies: "Im iibrigen
liegt mir wenig an das was man in Deutschland iber diesen Punct von
mir denken m6chte. In der Geschichte [der Kunst des Altertums] kann
ich den strengen Moralisten weit mehr Gelegenheit dazu gegeben ha-
ben."41
To the slighted Baron von Stosch, Winckelmann had to explain why
the volume was not dedicated to him.42 To Francke he admits another
motive for its publication: "Es ist auBer der Liebe und dem Wort welches
ich gegeben, noch eine andere Ursach, welche ich Ihnen kfinftig in Ver-
trauen sagen will; ich suchte eine kleine Genugthuung gegen eine mir
bezeigte eselmaiige Unh6flichkeit eines andern jungen Herrn."43 To his
friend Anton Rafael Mengs, Winckelmann writes in Italian that it was
"dedicato a un bellissimo ragazzo livonese."44 And finally to Baron von
Riedesel, yet another friend, he reports: "Die Schrift an den Herrn von
Berg ist abgedruckt. Ich habe in derselben etwas frey geschrieben, in der
Zuversicht, daB kein grol3er Herr oder dessen Minister dieselbe lesen
werde."45
In all these statements there is an express awareness of the potential
ambiguity, indeed, in some instances a boastful exploitation of it.
Winckelmann is deliberately manipulating the perception awakened in
his friends by the reading of his text. At the same time, he is quite
conscious of the gossip and speculation that his (mis)representation is
causing among the broader readership. Such considerations likely
prompted the public statement which appeared in the second edition of
the Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums. Referring to Plato's and Aris-
totle's contradictory judgments of tragedy and its effect on the passions,
Winckelmann moves obliquely to his Abhandlung, "die bey einigen ein
Urtheil erwecket, welches von meiner Absicht ginzlich entfernet gewesen
ist."46 Here he denies the suspicion that he had previously so carefully
plotted.
While Germany responded to the Abhandlung, the sole person to
whom it was dedicated did not. At first it was a problem of locating him,
of making arrangements with his Dresden publ

ward the volume to a Berg of unknown whereab
Winckelmann vents his irritation, certain that
book by now. To his publisher he writes in Jun
publication, two years after Berg's departure: "
ich keine Zeile gesehen. Ich bin besorgt, dab
kostet mir nichts eine Zuschrift vor die Hund
ist die H6flichkeit ohne Antwort zu theuer."47
Winckelmann is convinced that Berg may still
book.
In October of 1765, Winckelmann reports:
... der Herr von Berg hat endlich iberwunden aus Riga zu schreiben: es
ist derselbe bereits mehr als ein Jahr verheirathet, und vermuthet, er werde
binnen der Zeit des Empfangs seines Schreibens bereits Vater seyn und
verspricht mir seinen Sohn nach Rom zu schicken, welchem ich alsdenn,
wenn ich mir ein so hohes Alter versprechen konnte, wenig niitzlich seyn
kinnte.48
A first response to Berg's letter goes unanswered, so Winckelmann writes

again in May 1767, five years after their initial encounter. He tells him
of his plans to visit Vienna and Berlin, the aborted trip that would result
in his death by a hustler in Trieste. He recalls the tree in which he had
inscribed Berg's name: "In Frascati ist leider der Platano, in dessen Rinde
ich den siissen Namen meines Freundes schnitt, umgehauen" and con-
gratulates him on becoming a father: "Sie werden nunmehro Vater von
schinen Kindern nach Ihrem geliebten und mir ewig gegenwirtigen Bilde
seyn, und ich freue mich, daB mein Wunsch zu Ende meiner Schrift erfiillt
worden."49
There is no doubt of the melancholy significance Winckelmann
attaches to the felling of the tree. It signifies the death of their friendship.
More interesting still is the transformation of the tree from an Ahorn
(maple) to a Platano (plane tree), for it was under a plane tree that Socrates
and Phaedrus sat on that sultry afternoon long ago. This slippage indicates
the extent to which the friendship already fictionalized in the Abhandlung
has been inserted into a mythological order. " The entire elaborate scheme
of representation in the Abhandlung was, as we have seen, in a crucial
sense dependent on disappointment, rejection, on a friendship never re-
alized. The felled plane tree, a tree that never existed, is the perfect sig-
nifier of their love and friendship as Winckelmann imagined it and imag-
ined it to be imagined by others. Now a note of deep resignation sounds.
The ambiguities of his coming out are reabsorbed by the heterosexual
order. The grandiose plan of a homosocial reproduction of sons and
grandsons is prosaically reinterpreted as the biological generation of
"beautiful children," that is, of sons and daughters.
The entire Berg episode

it was, however, a powerf
cherished and shared his l
sisted in instituting the h
soon after his death, no le
edition of his letters to v
edited by Johann Friedric
tantly, friends imitated W
epistolary monuments for
it is irrelevant whether t
or not. What counts, then
that the circumstances pe
der Empfindung des Schdn
mann had, in the most te
*This article is dedicated to th

died in January 1993 of AIDS-re
a General Research Board Summ
at the University of Maryland a
'See, for example: the extensiv
der heiligen Paderastie. Homosex
1850 (Berlin: Rosa Winkel, 1990)
the Problem of the Boy," Eighte
"The Personal, the Political and t
The Journal of Homosexuality
mann? Etappen der Winckelma
(1988): 5-15; Wolfgang von Wan
des Begehrens," Merkur 39 (19
sexualitit und Literatur 5 (1988
2David M. Halperin, One Hun
1990) 41.
3Ibid. 41-42.
4Cf. Paul Derks, "Voili un beau bougre de paradis! Zur Sprachgeschichte der mann-
lichen Homosexualitit," Forum Homosexualitait und Literatur 4 (1988): 45-73 (reprinted
in his Schande 86-102) and Wolfgang von Wangenheim, "Benennungen," Forum Homo-
sexualitdt und Literatur 9 (1990): 5-17.
5According to the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, ed. Wayne R. Dynes (New York:
Garland, 1990), the concept ofhomosociality was coined in 1975 by Carol Smith-Rosenberg
and later adopted by Michel Foucault (1982). It designates "the patterns and relationships
arising from gender-specific gatherings of all sorts" (560). Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick uses the
concept of the homosocial in Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire
(New York: Columbia UP, 1985).
6The standard treatment of eighteenth-century friendship, Wolfdietrich Rasch,
Freundschaftskult und Freundschaftsdichtung im deutschen Schrifttum des 18. Jahrhunderts
(Halle: Niemeyer, 1936), is more than fifty years old. Rasch vigorously denies the presence
of any homosexuality, attributing dubious expressions of affection to literary convention.
7It is a sign of the times that after years of neglect, the Abhandlung is prominently
featured in two recent monographs. Paul Derks (who is inclined to essentialism) uses the
Berg affair as introductory anecdote and his best initial evidence for the public knowledge
of Winckelmann's homosexuality in Die Schande der heiligen Paderastie. In Die Stadt der
Gelehrten. Studien zu Johann Joachim Winckelmanns Briefen aus Rom (Tibingen: Nie-
meyer, 1993), Martin Disselkamp understands the Abhandlun
fest" (291), and is keenly attuned to the connection between
and aesthetics. Where Disselkamp and we differ is in the relat
discourses. For Disselkamp, friendship functions allegorically
an aesthetic community. We, by contrast, believe that the aes
a code for the establishment of a homosocial network.
8This essay, which has never been translated into English, can be found in Johann
Joachim Winckelmann, Kleine Schriften, Vorreden, Entwarfe, ed. Walther Rehm (Berlin:
de Gruyter, 1968) 212-33.
9"An Berg," 9 June 1762, letter 488, Johann Joachim Winckelmann: Briefe, ed.
Walther Rehm, 4 vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1952-57) 2: 232.
t0"[An Graf Werthern (Entwurf)]," 28 July 1762, letter 504, Briefe 2: 256.
""An Berg," 9 June 1762, letter 488, 2: 232.
'2Cf. Derks, Schande 182.
'3"An Berg," 10 February 1764, letter 634, 3:18.
14"An Berg," 3 November 1762, letter 521, 2: 269.
'5"An Berg," 19 January 1763, letter 535a, 3: 413.
'6"An Berg," 26 January 1763, letter 535b, 3: 415.
'7Winckelmann, Briefe 3: 583. Rehm writes: "Das von Winckelmann in Aussicht
genommene Motto ist bei Pindar in dieser Form nicht nachzuweisen; vermutlich in freier
Zitierung gemeint 01. X, 2-1. Das Motto erschien aber nicht; wahrscheinlich hat Berg in
seiner II, 299 erwahnten, aber nicht iOberlieferten Antwort Bedenken geaul3ert."
'8"An Berg," 22 March 1763, letter 545, 3: 299.
'9"An Berg," 21 June 1763, letter 572, 3: 327.
20"An Berg," 9 June 1762, letter 488, 2: 232.
21Ibid. 233.
22Kleine Schriften 216.
23I am grateful to my readers at Monatshefte for making this observation.
25In Socrates' second speech, he develops the metaphor of the winged soul, whose
feathers begin to grow when it sees its beautiful beloved. This condition is compared to
the case of cutting teeth: "Just so the soul suffers when the growth of the feathers begins;
it is feverish and is uncomfortable and itches when they begin to grow." Plato, Euthyphro,
Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, trans. Harold North Fowler (Cambridge, MA and Lon-
don: Harvard UP and Heinemann, 1977) 487.
27Ibid. 218.
28Ibid. 217.
29Ibid. 213.
3oIbid. 214.
3lIbid. 220.
32Ibid. 233.
33Ibid. 213.
34"An Berg," 3 November 1762, letter 521, 2: 268.
35"An Berg," 9 June 1762, letter 488, 2: 233.
37Ibid. 233.
38Ibid. 212.
39Letter 488, 2:233.
40"An L. Usteri," 6 August 1763, letter 579, 2: 333.
41"An L. Usteri," 14 September 1763, letter 591, 2: 345. We can only concur with
this statement since the aesthetics laid out in the Geschichte is based on the homoerotic
gaze as it is engaged by the body of the castrato. For more on this aspect see the chapter
on Winckelmann in Simon Richter, Laocoon's Body and the Aesthetics of Pain (Detroit:
Wayne State UP, 1992).
42"An Stosch," 23 November 1763, letter 605, 2: 354-55.
43"An Francke," 20 August 1763, letter 585, 2: 340.
44"An Mengs," 15 February 17

45"An Riedesel," 12 October 17
46Quoted by Walther Rehm in
47"An Walther," 30 June 1764
48"An Schlabbrendorf," 26 Oc
49"An Berg," 20 May 1767, let
5ODerks, Schande, also noted th
die Fiillung des Ahorns mit, der
dros?-zur Platane wird: masochi
tragene symbolische Kastration?
51A project currently underw
Homosocial Networking in Late Ei
milieu.
The Foreign Language Tea

offers U.S. educational institu
their language teaching prog
Belgian, Chinese, French, Ge
young teachers come to U.S.
informants to serve in langu
The duties of the assistants m
in conversational situations,
directing a language house or
return for the services of th
room and board, a waiver of
$300 to $500 per month. In s
room and board. Assistants f
German Marshall Fund of th
dates are chosen first by th
reviews candidate dossiers an
participating U.S. institution
coordinates placement and p
academic year. Participating
each candidate accepted as a
academic year in which the a
contact: Luisa Guerriera, Man
Education, Placement and Sp
NY 10017; tel. 212/984-5494.

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Representing Homosexuality: Winckelmann and the Aesthetics of Friendship

Author(s): Simon Richter and Patrick McGrath

Perhaps never before has Johann Joachim Winckelmann's putative

Monatshefte, Vol. 86, No. 1, 1994 45

its German form.4 The ass

that Winckelmann's Abhandlung was designed to

It all began in the summer of 1762, when a handsome young Li-

For four weeks Winckelmann served as Berg's cicerone, showing and

So wie eine zirtliche Mutter untrostlich weinet um ein geliebtes Kind,

ins Schlachtfeld stellet; eb

He quotes the British poet

Wie gliucklich wiurde ich

While Berg was still in R

with Berg. Suspecting that the completion of his

speculate on his relations w

The Abhandlung is a rel

Da ferner die Menschliche Schrnheit, zur KenntniB, in einen allgemeinen

Appreciation for physical male beauty is twice priv

The second half of Win

This statement occurs directly after a highly charged description of friend-

friendship something like sexual reproduction tak

Very soon after publicati

Usteri seems to have responded with some report of speculation among

of making arrangements with his Dresden publ

A first response to Berg's letter goes unanswered, so Winckelmann writes

The entire Berg episode

*This article is dedicated to th

44"An Mengs," 15 February 17

The Foreign Language Tea

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