The Arts of Collecting: Sebastiano Resta and the Market for Drawings in Early Modern Europe

This book examines the collection of art through anthropological models of exchange and the social roles of material culture. It brings to light a crucial chapter in the history of collecting, of the migration of art objects out of Italy to northern Europe in the late seventeenth century, pinning the history of collection to broader changes in European economic history. It further analyzes the epistemological frameworks for viewing that accompanied this transfer of artistic wealth, demonstrating how collecting was shaped by social mores that equated the possession of art with ideals of courtly love. The research for this book was funded by the Kress Foundation and the Getty Grant Program.