ABSTRACT
The Age of Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, was significant to the history of the conservation of cultural heritage in that it introduced cultural paradigms, and formulated concepts which effectively founded the modern conservation movement. Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-62) introduced the discipline and the word ‘aesthetics’ into German philosophy, and influenced the ideas of Lessing, Kant and Hegel. An even more fundamental issue in this period was the new concept of history, advanced by Vico in Italy and Herder in Germany, as has been noted in the first chapter. Winckelmann was another who contributed to this development by a critical examination of ancient works of art, objects and monuments, whereby he founded modern archaeology, modern art history, and the methods of verification of facts from the original. As a result, he made a distinction between original and copy – which became fundamental to later restoration policies. In the field of painting, a similar approach was developed by Bellori. Furthermore, the period saw the emergence of the concepts of ‘patina of age’ and ‘picturesque’ – first in relation to paintings, and later extended to ancient ruins and mediaeval churches.
