Early Collections and Collecting
Activities North of the Alps
Dagmar Eichberger
d.eichberger@t-online.de
Three short presentations
on aspects of Renaissance collections created the
framework for a lively exchange of ideas. The material
selected for presentation covered three different
social groups and thus provided a good cross-section
of collecting activies during the first half of the
sixteenth century: Flemish and Spanish high nobility,
German merchants and Flemish burghers from Antwerp.
Marie-Tere Alvarez (J. Paul-Getty Museum, Los Angeles)
discussedA parameters of collection research in regard
to MencA-a de Mendoza, the wife of Henry III of Nassau.
She also presented her new findings on Jan Gossaert's
portrait of a Spanish nobleman in the J. Paul-Getty
Museum (now identified as Juan de Zuniga). MencA-a
de Medoza's Renaissance collection and her art patronage
are the focus of a major research project undertaken
by Alvarez and an international team of scholars.
Mark A. Meadow (UC Santa Barbara) discussed the pivotal
role of the south German Fugger family in the rise
of early modern collections in the Habsburg Empire
and compared the international networks of well-established
merchants with those of the leading courts of Europe.
Individuals such as Hans Jacob Fugger competed with
the high nobility in their quest for collectible items
of all kinds, including book, art objects and curiosities.
This investigation is part of a larger research initiative
at UCLA entitled: 'Microcosms: Objects of Knowledge.'
Maximiliaan P. J. Martens and Nastasja Peeters (both
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) provided an overview
of their archival research into sixteenth-century
art collections in Antwerp before Iconoclasm. Based
on their evaluation of judicial inventories dating
from the 1530s and 1540s first statistical data could
be presented on the following aspects: number of art
objects/paintings in urban households grouped according
to size and wealth of the owner, location of the objects,
artistic category and subject matter. Written resumA(C)es
of current research projects were submitted by: Jochen
Luckhardt, Ariane Mensger, Noelia GarcA-a PA(C)rez and
Luisa Wood Ruby.
<<BACK
|
