Evolution of English Collecting

After a thorough survey of the background history of European collecting, focussing in particular on Italy's formative role in this phenomenon, Edward Chaney contextualises English collecting in the 16th and 17th centuries and draws together a collection of essays on the subject. He deals with issues ranging from English collecting at the time of the Reformation, with all the tension that phenomenon produced in England's relationships with Rome, to the early Cecils and conflicts between English Protestantism and Catholic Italianate taste. The book goes on to examine the lives and achievements of great collectors and patrons, from the Arundels to Sir Dudley Carleton and the Duke of Buckingham to the Duke of Marlborough, and explores through specific studies the evolution of collections of paintings, sculptures and prints in England.