In the aftermath of Winckelmann and Mengs, the late Enlightenment thinker and classicist Fernow (1763-1808) set out to determine the autonomy of art on the basis of the intrinsic value of its significative material. As one of the inner circle of Weimar art enthusiasts in the entourage of Goethe and Meyer and with an eye to authors like Schelling and Friedrich Schlegel, Fernow urged a species of classicism that was not only based on an art history perspective but also argued from a vantage emphasizing the productive rather than receptive aspects of aesthetics. The consequences of his aversion to a mimetic understanding of art are discussed here on the basis of the lead concepts underlying Fernow's writings on the works of the contemporary artists Carstens and Canova, which represent his most significant contributions on the aesthetics of painting and sculpture.