Product Description

By the 19th century, connoisseurs from the British Isles had assembled the richest collections of classical antiquities outside Rome. The galleries they created to house the spectacular Greek and Roman statues, ornaments, vases, bronzes and gems were in many instances designed to be as magnificent as the artworks themselves. This is an examination of how the great British antiquities collections were put together and displayed, from Lord Arundel's collection of marbles in the 17th century to the Grand Tour acquisitions of the 18th century and the greatest art acquisition of all time, that of the Elgin Marbles from the Acropolis. Presenting a comprehensive history of the collecting of antiquities in Great Britain, Jonathan Scott gives portraits of the principal collectors, describes the mechanics of the art trade and collecting, and takes us to beautiful sculpture galleries that were created by such distinguished architects as Robert Adam and Jeffry Wyatville. With illustrations of the interiors of collectors' houses, the work presents in detail the story of private British antiquities collectors and their truly remarkable collections.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2228266 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 348 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In the modern art world, the connoisseur who collects and displays works of art sometimes seems almost as important as the artists who make them. This lavishly illustrated history covers the heroic age of British art collecting from the 17th through the 19th century, when a Grand Tour through Italy-and occasionally Greece-studying and gathering ancient sculpture was a rite of passage for wealthy gentlemen. Export controls limited the availability of intact antiquities, so an industry sprang up to satisfy the market by assembling miscellaneous ancient fragments into complete statues, turning reproductions into "restorations" by attaching a few authentic scraps, and churning out outright forgeries, all of which were passed off as ancient masterpieces by unscrupulous dealers. The quality of these works was eclipsed by the magnificent palaces and galleries rich collectors built to house them back in Britain, veritable temples of art that still influence our ideas about the look of the classical world. Scott, the deputy chairman of London's Victoria and Albert Museum and author of Piranesi, makes this potentially dry subject colorful and absorbing. He covers the lives and activities of the major collectors and dealers, explores the social and economic significance of conspicuously displayed art as a symbol of wealth and refinement, and delves into the murky machinations of the art trade and the travails of excavating and collecting art in Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Often naive, taken advantage of and ridiculed, these collectors nonetheless played a major role in the evolution of modern aesthetics, and art buffs will delight in Scott's vivid portrait of their exploits. 204 b&w illustrations.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Jonathan Scott is deputy chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. His books include Salvator Rosa: His Life and Times (ISBN 0 300 06416 0, [pound]45.00*), also published by Yale University Press.