This study examines the history of collecting in early modern Europe, and describes the myriad treasures, from paintings and antiques to religious relics, that found their way into the private collections and public museums of the time. The author looks at the types of people who formed collections, from the harmless eccentrics to the wily speculators, and examines what they collected and why. He develops an historical anthropology of collecting and sheds new light upon the genesis of the modern museum. Pomian charts the changes in fashion which characterized the world of collecting, arguing that such shifts can be seen as a sign of wider and more profound changes in mentality and can be analyzed in terms of a conflict between aesthetic and historical sensibilities.
- ISBN10 0745606806
- ISBN13 9780745606804
- Publish Date 6 December 1990
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 9 June 2000
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Polity Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English