What role did artists play in building, managing and organizing royal and princely collections in France, from the Renaissance to the end of the Ancien Régime? Read More
In the relationship between princes and the arts, the practice of collecting is undoubtedly the least studied aspect to date.
Indeed, the artist's place in the complex processes governing royal and princely collecting in modern France merits interdisciplinary investigation. This collective approach contributes to a socio-cultural, material and even political history of collecting, which focuses as much on princes as on producers (of originals or copies), intermediary artists, the "guards" of cabinets of paintings, antiques or precious objects - the ancestors of professional curators - and control instruments such as drawings and inventories.
Taking a chronological approach, the book explores the multi-faceted role of artists in the construction, organization and management of French royal and princely collections from the Renaissance to the end of the Ancien Régime.