This work is an account of the formation of the first great royal art collections. Following the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I and the public auction of his collection and those of his associates, large numbers of works of art of the finest quality came on to the market and were sought after with enthusiasm by many of the richest and most important figures in Europe. This new and powerful interest in acquiring pictures transformed the way in which painting was viewed within the context of European culture, and is a story of greed, intrigue and passion. Starting with the formation and dissolution of the first English royal collection (and those of other notable royalists like the Dukes of Arundel and Buckingham), the author moves on to discuss the great acquisitions of Philip IV of Spain - many secured by his agents from the "Sale of the Century" in 1650 when 1570 pictures were disposed of by the victorious English parliamentarians. Titians, Corregios, Raphaels and other great masterpieces (most now still in the Prado) were acquired for derisory sums. Others enriched collections in the Netherlands and in France, and Brown moves on to discuss the activities of collectors in Antwerp and Brussels, including Peter Paul Rubens and the Hapsburg Archduke Leopold William of Austria whose collection was for a time the most famous in Europe and now forms the nucleus of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Moving on to France, the origins of the Louvre in the collections of Mazarin, Colbert and Richelieu are explored and the book ends with a consideration of the way in which painting became, in the course of the 17th century, to be considered the pre-eminent and most highly prized of the visual arts.
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A lavishly illustrated edition ... full of down-to-earth narrative about dickering and haggling among princes and their agents.... Brown is particularly good at converting the hard evidence of the Hapsburg acquisitions into a sort of poignant thriller. -- Review
--This text refers to an alternate
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edition.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fine addition to any European history collection,
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This review is from: Kings and Connoisseurs (Hardcover)
I first saw this book in a store display and was captivated by it's breathtaking and sweeping art work from talents ranging from Bosch to da Vinci. It captures 17th century European art with style and grace rarely found in other books. Being a big Anne Rice fan, I was most captivated by the painting Crucifixion Altar, by Roger van de Weyden, which depicts Veronica holding her famous veil, which plays a key role in Rice's book Memnoch the Devil. Other highlights include Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights and Raphael's Archangel Michael. The color of the paintings are superb, and the text is a perfect match. Bearing in mind that 17th European paintings depict many religious icons, it's a wonderful book to posses, whether you're religious or not. A magnificent find.
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