The first treatise on museums : Samuel Quiccheberg's Inscriptiones, 1565

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The first treatise on museums : Samuel Quiccheberg's Inscriptiones, 1565

Samuel Quiccheberg ; translation by Mark A. Meadow and Bruce Robertson ; edited by Mark A. Meadow with Bruce Robertson

(Texts & documents)

Getty Research Institute, c2013

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Inscriptiones

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-139) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This is a new translation of Quiccheberg's seminal 16th century text on the collection and display of objects. Samuel Quiccheberg's Inscriptiones, first published in Latin in 1565, is an ambitious effort to demonstrate the pragmatic value of curiosity cabinets, or Wunderkammer, to princely collectors in 16th-century Europe and, by so doing, inspire them to develop their own such collections. Quiccheberg shows how the assembly and display of physical objects offered nobles a powerful means to expand visual knowledge, allowing them to incorporate empirical and artisanal expertise into the realm of the written word. Quiccheberg's descriptions of early modern collections provide both a point of origin for today's museums and an implicit critique of their aims, asserting the fundamental research and scholarly value of collections: collections are to be used, not merely viewed. The First Treatise on Museums makes Quiccheberg's now rare publication available in English translation. Complementing the translation are a critical introduction by Mark Meadow and a preface by Bruce Robertson.

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  • Texts & documents

    Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities , Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities , Distributed by the University of Chicago Press

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