"Making museums: How the V&A and National Gallery Built their collections of Italian Art"

While Italians reshaped their country during the Risorgimento, the need for money and modernity meant many nobles sold family heirlooms. At the same time, the British were forming national museums and seeking treasures from across the world. This session will explore how curators and directors built the collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum the National Gallery in London.
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Readings: John Fleming, “Art Dealing in the Risorgimento I,” The Burlington Magazine, 115, 1973, pp. 4-17; ibid, “Art Dealing in the Risorgimento II,” The Burlington Magazine, 121, 1979, pp. 492-508
Clive Wainwright, “Shopping for South Kensington: Fortnum and Henry Cole in Florence 1858-1859,” Journal of the History of Collections, 1999 11 (2), 171-185