Reisen zwischen Autopsie und Imagination. Herzogin Anna Amalia als Vermittlerin italienischer Kultur in der Residenz Weimar (1788–1807)

For two years, from 1788 to 1790, Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1739-1807) exchanged her familiar surroundings with Rome and Naples. She undertook her furthest and most ambitious journey at the age of almost 49. For the only time the princely widow left Germany or the German territories of the Reich. During her stay, the Duchess completed an extensive educational and entertainment programme with fine arts, architecture and music. She also made numerous contacts with artists, scholars, and diplomats. This study examines how the former Regent approached Italian art and society during her stay in Italy, and to what extent she appeared as a mediator of Italian culture in the Residence Weimar in the years that followed: Anna Amalia was able to keep her reception of antiquity free of academic standards by presenting her works and views for discussion in a circle with which she had a hierarchical patronage relationship. It was not only with regard to the works of art of antiquity that she used her amateurism to a large extent as a means of enlivening the sociability of her court. Anna Amalia did not develop more extensive ambitions as a mediator of Italian culture in Weimar and beyond, thus taking advantage of the freedom of her position as a duke's mother