European art collectors and collecting, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment 

European collectors have long used art and artefacts to showcase their wealth, express personal taste and acquire knowledge. We will find out how patrons developed their collecting practices during the Late Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Enlightenment periods. The contexts for collecting which we will explore include medieval treasuries, cabinets of curiosities, and private art collections. Collections under consideration will include the University of Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology, which is one of the largest surviving collections of plaster casts of Greek and Roman statues in the world.