Transnational politics of prestige? Museums and art collections in German and Italian states in the first half of the nineteenth century

ABSTRACT

During the period Koselleck called the Sattelzeit (roughly 1750 to 1850) princely chambers of curiosities became public museums that the elites visited for educational purposes. The Louvre in Paris served as the principal model. Here, after 1800, a chronological (and canonical) collection came into being and that would be emulated by other European rulers. The plurality of territorial states meant that museums and art galleries were rebuilt or maintained in many Italian and German cities, all of which claimed to represent the respective national culture. What was exhibited in European museums from the 1840s onwards was intended to increase the fame of the rulers and the prestige of their capital cities. This contribution is a comparative analysis of how non-national affiliations and loyalties shaped the foundation of Italian and German museums before 1850 while the ideal of a ‘national’ museum drastically changed after the formation of the nation states.

RIASSUNTO

Nell’epoca di transizione tra Settecento e Ottocento le camere d’arte allestite da principi e monarchi si tramutarono in musei pubblici la cui visita si imponeva come una tappa fondamentale nel percorso educativo delle élite. Questo processo ebbe il Louvre come modello incontrastato. Il modello francese emerso durante il Primo impero rimase il canone da imitare nelle restanti corti europee anche dopo la caduta di Napoleone. In quegli anni, a causa della pluralità degli stati preunitari, in numerose città tedesche e italiane furono inaugurati musei e gallerie rappresentative. A partire dagli anni 1840 questi musei si posero l’obbiettivo di dare lustro alle rispettive monarchie e alle capitali preunitarie. Questo saggio analizza in chiave comparata come sentimenti e intenzioni non riferibili al nazionalismo moderno furono fondamentali per la creazione del panorama museale in Italia e Germania. L’idea di museo ‘nazionale’ si impose invece soltanto in seguito alla formazione degli stati unitari.

KEYWORDS:

• cultural policy
• art collecting
• prestige
• art market

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• politica culturale
• collezionismo d’arte
• prestigio
• mercato dell’arte

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gabriele B. Clemens

Gabriele B. Clemens is Professor of Nineteenth-Century European and Regional History at Saarland University. She has taught and conducted research in numerous Italian universities and institutions. Besides being a member of the scientific committees of the Centro di studi tedesco in Venice and of various Italian reviews (Annali – Trento; Il Risorgimento – Milano; Studi Piemontesi – Torino), she is the President of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die Neueste Geschichte Italiens (Saarbrücken) and was President of the Scientific Committee of the German Historical Institute in Rome. Among her publications regarding Italian history are Sanctus Sanctus Amor Patriae. Eine vergleichende Studie zu deutschen und italienischen Geschichtsvereinen im 19. Jahrhundert. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2004; (with Malte König and Marco Meriggi), Hochkultur als Herrschaftselement. Italienischer und deutscher Adel im langen 19. Jahrhundert. Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 2011; and (with Jens Späth) 150 Jahre Risorgimento – geeintes Italien?. Trier: Kliomedia, 2014. She is currently preparing a monograph on nineteenth-century Italian history.