The innovative study examines the art theory of Weimarian Classicism, which was also of meaningful importance for the literary aesthetics of, for example, Goethe and his Weimarian friends. The book is a highly relevant fundamental work about the history of Weimarian Classicism for literature specialists as well as art historians, and discusses the central problems in the depiction of European Neoclassicism.

Martin Dönike ist Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter beim Sonderforschungsbereich "Transformationen der Antike" an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin und Mitherausgeber des Frankfurter Nachlasses Wilhelm Heinses.