L’eredità di Winckelmann in Sicilia: Jakob Josef von Haus e il tema della emulazione artistica nel dibattito del primo Ottocento

For a long time, Sicily represented the place of choice of Winckelmann’s theories regarding the theme of ideal beauty, of the effects of climate on the physical structure and moral status of inhabitants, and how these components reflected on the art of the Ancients. Even though the German archaeologist had planned to land on Sicily, to give his theory definitive verification, it was up to some of his epigones to bring – literally – his gaze among the vestiges of Classicism that still existed there. At the beginning of the 19th century, the debate on the validity of these theories was more heated than ever, and his authority considered almost untouchable. Nevertheless, because of some archaeological discoveries and the need to update these theoretical constructs in a key that would preserve their validity, the Winckelmann legacy was set to a substantial rethinking. This paper examines, in the light of this reconversion, the role held by the German Jakob Josef von Haus (1748-1833), a distinguished archaeologist, museum curator and preceptor to the hereditary prince Francesco di Borbone, and among the major animators of the Sicilian cultural life at the beginning of the 19th century.