Bibliographie complète

Studying the works and letters of Johann Joachim Winckelmann written between 1755 and 1768 gives new insights on love between men in the 18th century and on its relation to the construction of masculinity. The case of Winckelmann illustrates the constructed and changing nature of eroticism: the influence of the Hellenic example is visible in the homoerotic fantasy that Winckelmann used to interpret his desires. Antiquity, given its cultural authority, represented a relatively safe space where Winckelmann was able to express his homoerotic sensibility to which the western context was hostile. Greek literature exalted the display of affection between men and its statuary, the nude male body. This fantasy would later prove to be the capital in Winckelmann’s comprehension and justifications of his relations with other men in Italy after 1755. Far from being confined to the repression of homoeroticism by the 18th century European society, the case of Winckelmann illustrates its potential for partial integration. The originality of Winckelmann lies in the way he used to communicate his homoerotic ideas in scholarly texts while rendering them socially acceptable. Finally, several clues in his works and letters bear to think that Winckelmann was aware of his difference and that between 1755 and 1768 he created for himself a discrete community of men also sensitive to homoerotic desires.