ABSTRACT
The dilettantism project proved to be the most important document on the concept during the period of Weimar Classicism. Goethe still uses the term regularly after 1800, but he never engages with it to the same extent. As was shown in the last chapter, his autobiographical references are characterized by a cautious awareness: although he acknowledges the value of his own activities, he only alludes to his dilettantism. The other references from this period add various nuances to his understanding of the concept. In the Maximen und Reflexionen (of which most were written after 1800), maxims 821–27 of the section entitled 'Kunst und Künstler' are concerned with dilettantism. In general the material here simply paraphrases ideas already in the project about the disadvantages of dilettantism on the grounds of its inadequate approach to art, which suggests that it provided a different means of publishing this material. But maxim 824 offers a new perspective on the development of the dilettante:
Die Zudringlichkeiten junger Dilettanten muß man mit Wohlwollen ertragen: sie werden im Alter die wahrsten Verehrer der Kunst und des Meisters.
[The pushiness of young dilettantes must be benevolently tolerated: in old age they become the truest admirers of art and the master]. 1
This reference to the mature dilettante's eventual respect for art and the master can be interpreted as another allusion to the modest value of his own activities.