Exhibiting the Past

Caspar Reuvens and the Museums of Antiquities in Europe, 1800-1840

By (author) Mirjam Hoijtink

Book cover: Exhibiting the Past

Extent: 200, 200 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Art & Art History, Book History, Conservation, & Museum Studies

Series: Papers on Archaeology from The Leiden Museum of Antiquities

Series volume number: 7

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(March 2012)

ISBN: 9782503541525

Price: $95.00

In stock

In the first decades of the 19th century, the exhibition of antiquity in museums reflected a universal history of civilization, in which the idea of cross-cultural influences dominated. Hindu-buddhist civilization of 13th century Java was easily connected to that of classical Greece, and Indian Hindu-depictions were playfully related to those of Egyptian Pharaonic time. This book shows how antiquity, during and just after the Napoleonic era formed a statement in a changing world at the dawn of nationalism. The main character is the first professor of Archaeology Caspar Reuvens , director of the Museum of Antiquity in Leiden, the Netherlands (1818-1835). It emphasis on his forming years in Paris and Germany, his many travels to London, and his plans for a journey to Rome. Beside, it sheds new light on the radically changing canon of antique sculpture in a nervous Europe, that soon would be falling apart in nation states.

  • By (author) Mirjam Hoijtink