Spaces of Connoisseurship : : Judging Old Masters at Agnew’s and the National Gallery, c.1874-1916 / / Alison Clarke.

• Superior document: Studies in the History of Collecting & Art Markets
• VerfasserIn: Clarke, Alison,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2022.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in the History of Collecting & Art Markets.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (352 pages) :; illustrations
• Notes: Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Liverpool, 2018, under the title: Spatial aspects of connoisseurship : Agnew's and the National Gallery, 1874-1916.

Spaces of Connoisseurship explores the ‘who’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ of judging Old Master paintings in the nineteenth-century British art trade, via a comparison of family art dealers Thomas Agnew & Sons (“Agnew’s) and London’s National Gallery.

Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Introduction
• 1 On Institutions, Subjects and Dates
• 2 On Sources and a Spatial Methodology
• Section I: Connoisseurship and Acquisition: The What, Where and How
• 1 What? The Criteria of Connoisseurship
• 1 Avoiding the ‘Limbo of Mistaken Acquisitions’: Attribution
• 2 ‘Much Painted on & Spoilt by Some Vandal’: Condition and Restoration
• 3 A ‘Very Dull’ Velázquez: Beauty and Aesthetics
• 4 Selecting Typical Specimens: Representativeness and Importance
• 5 ‘Should Think Unsaleable’: Negotiating Customer Appeal
• 2 Where? Examining Paintings at Home and Abroad
• 1 Beyond Texts: Moving on from Dematerialised Connoisseurship
• 2 Mobility: Artworks and Connoisseurs
• 3 The Spaces of Connoisseurship
• 4 Spatial Factors Affecting Connoisseurship
• 5 The Chronology of Connoisseurship
• 3 How? The Supremacy of Visual Connoisseurship
• 1 Categorisation and Comparison: Viewing Artworks in Person
• 2 ‘My Treacherous Memory’: Comparison from Reproductions
• 3 Visual Experience and the ‘Mental Canon’
• 4 Provenance: Archives and Libraries as Alternative Spaces of Connoisseurship?
• 5 A Lack of Evidence for Technical Testing
• 6 Connoisseurship and a Model for Perceptual Expertise
• Section II: Connoisseurship and Display: Exhibiting Expertise
• 4 The National Gallery and Display
• 1 Public Ownership, Public Criticism
• 2 The Trafalgar Square Building and its Extensions
• 3 Walking through Art History: Rooms, Schools, Chronology and Hang
• 4 The Aesthetics of Display: Décor and Lighting
• 5 ‘Where Can These Pictures Be Hung?’ Disruptions to Display
• 5 Agnew’s and Display
• 1 Private Ownership, Public Reputation
• 2 ‘Lent from Various Great Houses’: Special Exhibitions
• Conclusion and Final Thoughts
• 1 A Cautionary Tale
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Index.