Enfilade

From the Austrian Acadmey of Sciences Press:

Bernhard Woytek and Daniela Williams, eds., Ars Critica Numaria: Joseph Eckhel (1737–1789) and the Transformation of Ancient Numismatics (Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2022), 683 pages, ISBN: 978-3700187745 (print edition), 240€ / ISBN: 978-3700191841 (free digital edition).

This richly illustrated volume explores the life and work of the Austrian classical scholar Joseph Eckhel, a crucial figure in the transformation of numismatic studies into a modern discipline. Eckhel has been celebrated widely as the ‘father of numismatics’ since the 19th century; still, this is the first book in the history of scholarship entirely dedicated to him. It contains twenty-one essays by an interdisciplinary group of international authors examining various aspects of Eckhel’s biography and scholarly activities: his Jesuit background, his formative study trip to Italy in 1773, his work as director of the imperial collection of ancient coins and professor of numismatics at the university of Vienna (from 1774), and his most important publications on ancient coins as well as on gems and cameos, notably his eight-volume opus magnum Doctrina numorum veterum (Vienna, 1792–98). Finally, Ars Critica Numaria considers Eckhel’s impact on contemporaries and later generations, with special regard to his role in the development of numismatic methodology in the Enlightenment and beyond.

The book is available as a free, open access pdf file here»

C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Bibliographical Conventions

Setting the Scene
Joseph Eckhel: Biographical Data
Eckhel’s Publications Printed during his Lifetime
• Bernhard Woytek, Ars critica numaria and the Study of Ancient Coins in the 18th Century: A Short Introduction

Eckhel in Context
• Karl Vocelka, Enlightened Scientific Research and Collecting: Vienna in the Second Half of the 18th Century
• Volker Heenes, Eckhel’s Approach to Ancient Coinage in the Context of 18th-Century Research on Ancient Art (Montfaucon, Caylus, Winckelmann)
• Jean Guillemain, Eckhel et la tradition jésuite. Les activités numismatiques dans la Compagnie de Jésus, du laboratoire lyonnais à la Doctrina numorum veterum. Avec un catalogue des collections, enseignements et ouvrages numismatiques des jésuites (1579–1816)
• Martin Gierl, Umgemünzte Aufklärung. Die Numismatik im 18. Jahrhundert bis Eckhel
• Martin Mulsow, Wie ordnet man die Antike? Das Programm einer Gesamtverzeichnung antiker Münzen von Lazius bis Eckhel
• Fritz Mitthof, Die Analyse eines siebenbürgischen Schatzfundes durch Abbé Eder im Jahr 1803: Goldstatere der bosporanischen Herrscher Pharnakes II. und Asandros in Vergesellschaftung mit solchen des Lysimachos-Typs

Eckhel’s Works
• Daniela Williams, From Collection to System: Eckhel in Italy (1772–1773) and the Numi veteres anecdoti (1775)
• Peter Franz Mittag, Eckhels numismatisches Lehrbuch. Die Kurzgefaßten Anfangsgründe zur alten Numismatik und ihre Ü bersetzungen
• Gabriella Tassinari, Joseph Eckhel e le gemme, antiche e ‘moderne’
• Bernhard Woytek, The Genesis of Eckhel’s Doctrina numorum veterum and Georg Zoëga’s Numismatic Papers
• Andrew Burnett, Scientia rei numariae – Ars critica numaria – Doctrina numorum veterum: What Are the Models?
• John Cunnally, Eckhel vs. Goltzius. The Reception of Renaissance Numismatics in the Doctrina
• Maria Cristina Molinari, De numis urbium Italicarum ex aere gravi. Joseph Eckhel’s Treatise in the Context of the Studies of Giovan Battista Passeri, Cardinal de Zelada, and Cardinal Borgia
• Kay Ehling, „Eckhels fürtreffliches Werk“ – Goethe liest die Doctrina numorum veterum

Eckhel’s Position in the ‘République des Médailles’
• François de Callataÿ, ‘The Father of the Father’: The Decisive Role of Erasmus Frölich (1700–1758) in Viennese Numismatics and Beyond
• Daniela Haarmann, Eckhel und seine Kollegen im k. k. Münzkabinett. Ein wissenssoziologischer Versuch
• Federica Missere Fontana, Viaggiatori instancabili: Sestini critico di Eckhel
• Christian E. Dekesel – Yvette M. M. Dekesel-de Ruyck (with contributions by Bernhard Woytek), The Unholy Relationship between a Numismatic Scholar and a Wheeler Dealer: Joseph Eckhel, Pieter van Damme and the Peculiar Recueil des médailles des Rois
• Jonathan Kagan, Eckhel and Britain: A Slow Courtship

By Way of Conclusion
• Bernhard Woytek, Systems, Coin Hoards, Dies and Provenances: Eckhel and the Evolution of Numismatic Method

Index of Persons
Contributors to this Volume