Conditions of sociability : mobility, mutability and medaglie in early modern networks and possible publics
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The Pursuit of Art and Pleasure in the Secret Grotto of Wilhelm V of Bavaria
Abstract The Grottenhof is a small garden surrounded by painted loggias in the Munich Residence, a palace that served as the seat of the Wittelsbach Dukes of Bavaria beginning in the sixteenth century. Completed between 1582 and 1589, the garden contains an elaborate grottoed fountain, sculpture, and paintings based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The pictorial program of the painted loggias combines images of mythological ardor with illusionistic interlopers from everyday court life who make punning references to the pursuit of love. The sources for the garden can be found in Italian and French prototypes, yet the program of decorations creates a variety of associations that were unique to the patron, Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria. The material and subject matter also reflect contemporary theories about art, nature, and the ordering of knowledge that informed the earliest cabinets of curiosities, where collections of art and natural objects were brought together in the so-called Kunstkammer. The garden was meant to engage all of the senses in a sanctuary that stimulated sensual thoughts while provoking broader contemplation about creativity and art.
"The origins of museums : the cabinet of curiosities in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe", edited by Oliver Impey and Arthur MacGregor, Oxford, 1985 : [recenzja] / oprac. Marta Krzemińska.
Present-day museums are almost as diverse in character as the collections that they contain, yet all are united by a historical thread leading back to a common origin in collections of "curiousities" in 16th and 17th-century Europe. In this unique, thorough account of the history of collecting, 35 noted authors discuss museums and their methods and sources of acquisitions, and the principles they used in cataloguing, publishing, and display.