The Art of Collecting . . .

Cara/Andrea here, I’ve recently been to several really wonderful museum exhibitions, and just love how seeing a carefully curated collection, put together with a focused point of view, can be so inspiring and educational. For me, the best sort of exhibit focus on a specific theme—Fashion and Impressionist Painters, for example—and through the art/objects also give us not only an aesthetic enjoyment but also a broader of context of how they fit into their era and history in general.

That said, it should come as no surprise that museums are some of my very favorite places to visit, no matter what the subject matter. Which got me to thinking about how the concept of the museum itself came into being . . . So I decided to do a little research and here is my own highly abbreviated little catalogue on its history.

The word “museum” derives from the Greek “mouseion,” which means “seat of the Muses. Interestingly enough, in ancient times it referred to a place of scholarly contemplation and philosophical discussion rather than a place with any physical objects on display.

It was during the Renaissance, with the reawakening of interest in classical art and antiquity, as well as the growth of wealthy merchant and banking dynasties, that the first great private “collections” started to be assembled. They often included a wide range of things—paintings, coins, sculpture, antiquities, and what were termed “curiosities, which often were specimens from the natural world like plants and minerals. Cosimo de Medici, a leading patron of the arts, was renowned for his magnificent treasures, and the word “museum” began to be used in reference to the place where his objects were displayed.

The Medici family wished for the collection “to be accessible to the people of Tuscany and to all nations” and so the upper floor of the Uffizi Palace in Florence, which was built by Cosimo to house administrative offices—uffizi means “offices” in Italian—was converted to a gallery space and opened to the public in 1582. And the trend was spreading to royal courts all across Europe. Augustus of Saxony displayed both scientific items and art in the “green vaults” of his Dresden palace, Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol assembled a fascinating collection that included Benin ivories and Chinese paintings at his castle near Innsbruck. Maximilian I of Austria and the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf were other notable collectors of the era. (Many tourist handbooks mentioned these collections, as visitors were allowed to view them.)

During the 17th century, collections (which at this time were refered to as "cabinets") started to become more specialized, especially with the advent of scientific societies like the Royal Society, established in London in 1660, and the Academy of Sciences, formed in Paris in 1666. Curiosity about the natural world sparked exploration and experimentation, and the resulting discoveries were extensively catalogued. And as the spirit of the Enlightenment grew stronger in the 18th century, the desire to create a compendium of “encyclopedic” knowledge became even more prevalent. In France, Diderot, one of the coutry's leading philosophes, called for the establishment of a national museum with open access, and his was just one of the many voices stirring the transition from private to public collections

Now, the first recorded instance of private collection being given to a government or university occurred in 1523 when the Domenico brothers gifted their holdings to the Venetian Republic. However, a more momentous gift happened in the mid-1600s when Elias Ashmole donated his extensive private collection to Oxford University, with the stipulation that a building be erected to house it. The result was the Ashmolean Museum, which opened in 1683. (So along with a litany of other ‘firsts,” Oxford can also lay claim to being the first institution to receive a private collection, erect a building for it and admit the public . . . much to the ire of a German scholar who in 1710 wrote a letter home complaining that “ordinary folk” were allowed admittance along with the university scholars.)

The British government wasn’t far behind, thanks to the efforts of Sir Hans Sloane, a noted physician and naturalist. Over the course of his lifetime, Sloane amassed a collection over 71,000 objects, which he wanted to preserve intact for posterity. So he gifted it to King George II in return for a payment of 20,000 pounds to his heirs. To its everlasting credit, the government accepted the terms and by an Act of Parliament in 1753, the British Museum was established—the first national museum open to the public in the world. The doors opened in 1759 (it was first displayed in Montagu House, which stood on the Museum’s present-day site) and was open free of charge “all studious and curious Persons.” (For years, however, there were only a limited amount of daily admission tickets, which were highly sought after.)

In France, Louis XV began exhibiting some of the Royal collection of paintings at the Luxembourg Palace in 1750. Bowing to public pressure, Louis XVI expanded the displays to the Grand Galerie in the Louvre. But it took a Revolution (and the loss of poor Louis’s head) before the Louvre’s galleries were open to the public in 1793. The collection there grew rapidly—under orders from the Revolutionary Committee to bring back art as well as gold during his military campaigns in Italy, Napoleon collected a wealth of artistic treasures for the new institution, a pattern he continued throughout the Napoleonic Wars. (Much of the loot was ordered returned by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, but by then, the Louvre was well-established as France’s premier museum.)

The museum concept quickly spread to other parts of the world. In America, the Charleston Library Society began forming a museum in 1773, while in 1786, the noted painter Charles Willson Peale spearheaded opening the Peale Museum in Philadelphia (for a time it was housed in Independence Hall.) Moving on to more exotic locales, Batavia Society of Arts and Science established a collection in 1778, and the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences was founded in Buenos Aires in 1812.

I could, of course, go on and on about the flowering of countless wonderful and fascinating museums around the globe, but let’s end our quick tour through history by compiling a list of our own favorites—what are your three top picks? (okay, okay, I know three are impossible, but let’s take a crack at it!) Mine are: The Metropolitan Museum in NYC, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Yale British Art Center in New Haven, CT. Now it’s your turn—please share!

Comments

[Fiona Ingram]

What an interesting post. I love museums and it's fascinating to read how they began.

[Andrea Penrose]

Glad you enjoyed it, Fiona.

[Ella Quinn]

What a lovely post, Cara. I love museums. The Uffizi is almost overwhelming in the number of items it has.

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, the Uffizi is wonderful, isn't it, Ella! I also have to add the Hermitage in St, Petersburg as an absolutely spectacular place.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Interesting, Cara/Andrea! So it was the British who first opened collections up to the hoi polloi, which is most of us. *G*

Favorite museums, hmm.... I've very fond of the Walters Museum here in Baltimore, which was also built around a private collection, that of Henry Walters. Lots of cool historical stuff and great exhibitions. It's there I saw a wooden cottage door from something like the 14th century, with a hole cut in one corner for the cat. *G* Naturally, I put that in my one medieval.

[Andrea Penrose]

LOL on the cat hole, Mary Jo! I've gotten SO many ideas for details or even plot points from msueums. Seeing something from a era often sparks that "ah-ha!" moment doesn't it? Love that feeling of discovery and wonder.

Oh, the Museum of London had LOTS of those moments.

[theo]

I've only been to the DIA and Metropolitan Museum so I don't have a lot to compare to. But I do love them both.

Interestingly enough, I just started for the umpteenth time, Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It's the third in their Pendergast series (which I've mentioned here before as a modern day quirky equivalent to Wimsey) and it's a very good book. The first two center in the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History and they're all wonderful reads with lots of museum details.

[Andrea Penrose]

Thanks, Theo—I am now adding this to my TRB pile!

[LynS]

One of my earliest favorite books (which reads well even as an adult) is the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler. 2 kids run away to the Met in NYC and discover an unknown Michelangelo. We go to the Met about once a year and it still has more to discover; though no unknown masterpieces.
The Smithsonian in DC was founded by a bequest from the illegitimate, though acknowledged James Smithson. He felt America had more hope so left his fortune to the new country for a museum to disseminate knowledge. My daughter clued me in on the V&A and I spent a lovely afternoon there. We need to see the British Museum as her school group had only 40 minutes to see it (Elgin Marbles at a sprint). I saw the Ashmolean last summer and want to get my daughter to see it too. It appears it is back to England in our future.

[Andrea Penrose]

LynS, I'll come along on the English museum trip! Love the British Museum too.

[Anne Gracie]

Lovely post, Cara/Andrea. I think in the US you're very blessed in the number and variety of museums with amazing collections — I remember being very kindly taken (thank you Nancy M) to a wonderful Norton Simon museum in Pasadena where I saw the most amazing collection of (in particular) Degas statues. I remember thinking I never saw so many Degas statues in one place, even in Europe.

I love to visit museums and galleries whenever I'm visiting other cities. My second last visit to New York was made memorable by an exhibition of Alexander McCall's fashions at the MET — amazing fashions made even more memorable by the outstandingly imaginative and clever way the display was presented.
Here in Melbourne, we have a superb private costume museum sucked away in a former industrial estate in a quiet suburban area. It blows me away every time.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/22/1087844921031.html

[theo]

Oh, DUH! *slaps forehead* I've been to the Smithsonian too. What a dunce...

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, Anne, that McQueen fashion exhibit at the Met was amazing! I feel so very fortunate to be close to NYC and all its incredible museums—and then I'm close enough to Washington DC and Boston to occasionally see their treasures too. Very lucky, indeed!

Your costume museum sounds to die for!

[Andrea Penrose]

Theo, the Smithsonian is so wonderful—love them all! (How can one not squee with delight when seeing the Hope Diamond, which was owned by Prinny, and Marie Antoinette, among others!)

[Laura from Rome]

My favourite museum it's the Uffizi in Florence because I love the Reinassance and because of Botticelli painters, even if I'm from Rome, I also like the Accademia delle Arti in Florence where there is the original David of Michelangelo, a statue that takes your breath away...

[Karin]

I can't pick just 3, I love so many of them. The Met, the Frick, the Pergamon in Berlin, in Paris the Musée Carnavalet(they've got the furniture from Marie Antoinette's prison cell, and Marat's bathtub!!), and Musée de l'Orangerie(Monet's waterlilies), the Bargello in Florence, I could go on. I'm also very fond of some local museums here in NJ that have great collections, the Newark Museum and the Rutgers University Museum to name two.

[Andrea Penrose]

Laura, Botticelli is one of my favorites, so visiting the Uffizi is truly amazing. And yes, David is divine!

[Andrea Penrose]

Karin, I totally agree—three is impossible. Love the Frick too. Will have to put the New Jersey museums on my "must-see" list.

[Jorie]

Ms. Elliott,

When you stated that museums used to be places of intellectual and philosophical conversations,... I am curious, does that date back to when we had literary salons? The closest I can find in our modern era are the Athenaeums, which can either be a library, a museum, or both entwined. Most have a series of riveting discussions and synposiums throughout the calendar year as well, and I must say, it's one reason I look forward to living near one in the future! :)

I wonder if instead of the stoic and seriousness of art galleries and museums of today, if they were meant to be more of a lively engaged venue where everyone could interact and share their impressions freely!?

I am very much at home in libraries, museums, antique emporiums, antiquarium bookshoppes, and galleries myself,... soaking in such a rich tapestery of the creative arts can not only absorb into us but reflect outwardly when we go to create something of our own inklings!

As far as my favourites!? Ooh goodness, I haven't had the pleasure to visit too many myself (as of yet)... The Smithsonian in Washington, DC bears mentioning, as I have been there, but I have barely 'seen' half of it! The one I want to visit the most would be the Chicago Institute of Art -- as I discovered the Thorne Rooms via Marianne Malone's "The Sixty-Eight Rooms", which is beyond enchanting! It evoked a new passion for Revolutionary France, too! (It's a bit of a time travel novel!) And, lastly,... hmm,... dare I dream, the Louvre!

A bit closer to home and just as ideal would be: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The sea of mystery that shrouds it due to the highly known theft abeit unknown to me until I read a premise for "The Art Forger" by BA Shapiro, only makes my curiosity more curious to see what remains of the collection!