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n Winckelmann’s mind was made up and he set out alone, arrivingnin Trieste on June 1st, where he took a room in the inn on the mainnsquare of the city. Staying at the same inn was a traveller who had arrived,nwithout luggage and on foot, from Venice two days earlier. This strangernintroduced Wincklemann to several sea-captains, as he tried to arrangentransport forward, and the two travellers became friends, taking coffee andnmeals together over the next three days, talking at their hotel and visitingneach other’s chambers.
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| Anton Mengs – Portrait of Johann Winckelmann |
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nThey knew each other only as John and Francis, after thenItalian custom, and Francis made enquiries of John, as to his character,nostensibly on behalf of the inn’s patron. One evening, to assure him of hisngood character, John showed Francis his letters of introduction, his passportnand in addition he mentioned the medals given to him in Vienna by the Empressnand the Prince. Francesco Arcangeli, to give him his full name, started to getnsuspicious of his new friend, wondering who he might be, and noticed that whennhe bought snuff, for example, he was very careful about the price. He wasnprobably a Jew, he confided to the coffee-shop keeper, or a Lutheran, or a spynof some sort; he was, said Arcangeli ‘un uomo di poco conto‘ (a man of little account). The sea-captains hedged and made excuses not to sail, andnWincklemann considered continuing overland to Venice but set the idea to onenside for the time being.
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| Winckelmann – Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums – 1776 Edition |
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nLate one night, after a week had passed, Francis askednJohn if he would bring his medals to the dinner-table but he refused, saying hendid not want to draw attention to himself, and when Francis pressed him tonreveal his identity, not wishing to be drawn, he replied,
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n“I do not wish tonbe known.”n
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nAs Wincklemann returned to his writing table, Arcangeli slippedna cord around his neck and drew it taut in an attempt to garotte him, but the German fought back and pushednhim away, only for Arcangeli to draw a knife, leap at him and stab him fiventimes. A servant, hearing the commotion, came to investigate and saw thenItalian lying over the German, bloody blade in hand; he jumped up, pushed pastnthe dumbfounded waiter and ran out into the night.
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| Winckelmann – Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums – another 1776 Edition |
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nThere was confusion and there were delays, a surgeon wasnbrought and at last the cord was taken from Wincklemann’s throat; he wasnundressed and laid on a mattress, his wounds were examined and dressed, anpoliceman arrived and a priest was sent for. Wincklemann was told that two ofnthe wounds were likely to be fatal and extreme unction was administered, hisnpapers were examined –
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nJoanni Winckelmann, præcsfecto antiquitatum Romæ. Innalmam urbem redit — John Winckelmann, Superintendent of Antiquities ofnRome. He is returning to the Holy Cityn
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n– and a will was drawn up, although henhad not strength to sign it. At four o’clock in the afternoon of June 8thn1768, in a hotel room in Trieste, Johann Wincklemann died. He was fifty yearsnold.
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| Monument to Winckelmann in his home town of Stendal |
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nFrancesco Arcangeli had been born in Campiglio, Tuscany, and had been ancook in his early life, until he stole over five hundred gold pieces from hisnmaster, Count Cottaldi, and fled but was captured and sentenced to hang innchains for four years in May 1764. When Archduke Leopold married in 1767, somenprisoners, including Arcangeli, were granted remission, and he and a freednservant girl settled in Venice, although he travelled to Trieste, looking for anposition.
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nHe fully intended to murder Wincklemann – the cord had been preparednand double twisted and the knife had been bought new in Trieste – more thannlikely to steal the medals from Vienna, although some writers have hinted thatnmaybe there was an unwelcome advance, or perhaps an unwanted rebuff, made by onenman or the other. He escaped Trieste and made his way to Planina, where he wasnarrested by soldiers for not having a passport, on June 14th. He wasnsent first to Adelsburg, where he confessed the murder to the Prefect, and thennsent, under armed escort, back to Trieste. He arrived on the following day, hisntrial commenced immediately and lasted until July 12th, withnsentence passed on July 18th –
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nHe fully intended to murder Wincklemann – the cord had been preparednand double twisted and the knife had been bought new in Trieste – more thannlikely to steal the medals from Vienna, although some writers have hinted thatnmaybe there was an unwelcome advance, or perhaps an unwanted rebuff, made by onenman or the other. He escaped Trieste and made his way to Planina, where he wasnarrested by soldiers for not having a passport, on June 14th. He wasnsent first to Adelsburg, where he confessed the murder to the Prefect, and thennsent, under armed escort, back to Trieste. He arrived on the following day, hisntrial commenced immediately and lasted until July 12th, withnsentence passed on July 18th –
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n“For the crime of murder, done bynyou on the body of John Winckelmann, on the morning of the 8th of June last,nthe honourable imperial royal Criminal Court has decreed that you, just as younare, shall be broken alive on the wheel, from the head to the feet, until yournsoul depart from your body; and that your dead body shall remain exposed uponnthe wheel.”n
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nTwo days later, at ten o’clock in the morning, this sentencenwas carried out and Francesco Arcangeli was executed at Trieste. He was thirty-one years old.
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nTomorrow – Broken on the Wheel
nTomorrow – Broken on the Wheel
