Wackenroder's religion of art

Abstract

Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder (1773-1798) was a leading figure in the early Romantic period. Although he was not a member of that group of Frühromantiker whose publication of the new literary periodical Athenäum in 1798 was an important milestone in the growing Romantic movement, his works were an important impulse for Romantic thought and had a far-reaching influence on German letters. The premature death of wackenroder at the age of twenty-five meant that his total literary output was not great. In fact, all of his letters and travel notes included, it amounted to not much more than 500 pages. Nevertheless, the devotion of this poet to art and music, and especially his appreciation of the worth of Albrecht Dürer's work, which helped to lead German inspiration away from "the Hellenism of Weimar, back to Germany's own cultural inheritance," was to have an enormous influence upon Romantic thought.