Great collections: private patrons / public passions
Ten-week art history and theory course
Wednesday 17 January - Wednesday 21 March 2018
The Life Room, RA Schools, Piccadilly
6.15–8.15pm each week (registration from 6pm) £540 for full course, £320 for weeks 1–5 OR weeks 6–10. Includes all materials, light refreshments throughout, and a drinks reception at the end of weeks 5 and 10.
Charles I: King and Collector
Terms and conditions
Following the sold-out ‘Great collections’ course of spring 2017, join new leading academics and art world professionals for a unique perspective on the world’s greatest collections, and the private collectors who have contributed to them.
The notion that individual works of art exist as part of a greater collection which helps to determine and define them is widely accepted within the contexts of museums, public collections and exhibition spaces. However, many of these works have important links to earlier private collections, and individual collectors who painstakingly built them.
In recognition of this link, this course will consider the history of a selection of important and great public collections, their origins, and the impact that collectors have had, and continue to have, on the public domain. Collecting art is an attitude that reflects one’s tastes, a specific historical period, and a precise point of view. This course will reflect on the passions of private patrons who have contributed to the public domain through their collecting.
The importance of old master art collectors and their influence in the preservation of historical art and cultural heritage will be acknowledged, along with the examination of contemporary art collectors and their influence on the artists of their time, and new artistic production.
This course will also consider a number of key questions:
• Why is it important to consider the provenience of the objects included in public collections?
• What is the difference between an art buyer, collector and a philanthropist?
• How do collectors perceive their private collections?
• How can public institutions expose/display the intimate sense of the private collection?
• What is the role of public art institutions in relation to private collections?
This course provides a unique opportunity to learn about the origins of a number of great international art collections, as well as the role and impact of collecting art, and the process through which private collections become public. Did patrons have an original vision to make their private collections into a public passion, or is it the public that became passionate about the myth of unique and inaccessible collections?
The course will provide an historic perspective on the practice and process of collecting, which is relevant as much for institutions as for individual collectors today. Understanding how great collections start and evolve – how works are acquired, retained, displayed and eventually shared – is also critical for understanding individual works of art, as well as artists and art movements which have gained prominence in the historical narrative.
Individual sessions are taught by leading scholars, art world practitioners and professionals from both the private and public sphere.
The course will be broadly chronological and will include discussions around some of the greatest collections in the United Kingdom as well as internationally.
This course is available to book as a full ten-week course OR as two individual blocks of five weeks.
Weeks 1–5 (Wednesday 17 January – Wednesday 14 February)
Weeks 6–10 (Wednesday 21 February – Wednesday 21 March)
About the course
This course provides a unique opportunity to learn about the origins of great international art collections, the impact of art collectors and patrons, and the process through which private collections become public. The course will also provide an historical perspective on the practice and process of collecting, which is relevant for both institutions and individual art collectors, as well as understanding our artistic and cultural heritage today.
This course is available to book as a full ten-week course OR as two individual blocks of five weeks.
Weeks 1–5 (Wednesday 17 January – Wednesday 14 February)
Weeks 6–10 (Wednesday 21 February – Wednesday 21 March)
This course is suitable for all levels of experience.
This course is for you if:
• You have a general interest in the history of art and collecting, and would like a novel way to understand cultural and historical change
• You are interested in gaining knowledge about collections history and individual collectors, from both a historic and practical perspective
• You have a personal or professional interest in how art can be collected, displayed, viewed and interpreted by different audiences
• You currently work, or aspire to work, in the arts and cultural industry and want to understand the collecting and collections process, and be exposed to art world professionals and leading scholars
The course will be delivered in part through a lecture format, but will include an opportunity for questions and discussion between speakers and participants.
The course is designed to enable an historical overview for those new to the field, but is relevant for those with prior art world knowledge experience keen to learn from experts.
Minimum age 18
Price for five weeks: £320
Price for ten weeks: £540
Registration from 6.00pm
6.15pm – 8.15pm per session
This course provides:
• A rich combination of lectures, discussion, and the opportunity for expert-led answers from a range of art world speakers
• An exploration of the history of public art collections and how art is viewed and understood
• Skills and knowledge relevant to those with art historical, curatorial, and arts management interests
• The opportunity to learn from art world experts and discuss the process of making of world class collections
• The opportunity to socialise and network with peers in a friendly environment
• Access to the Royal Academy’s historic Life Room at the heart of the RA schools
• A certificate of participation at the end of course completion
• A course pack and extended reading lists
• Light refreshments at the beginning of each session
• A drinks reception at the end of weeks five and ten
Guest Speakers Include:
Christian Greco
Director, Museo Egizio di Torino
Christian Greco has been the Director of the Museo Egizio, Turin since 2014. He led and directed the project of re-functionalisation, the renewal of the exhibition and the exhibition path, which was completed in March 2015, transforming the Museo Egizio from antiquarian museum to archaeological museum. Trained mainly in the Netherlands, Dr Greco is an Egyptologist with extensive experience in museums: he has curated many exhibition and curatorship projects in the Netherlands (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden; Kunsthal, Rotterdam; Teylers Museum, Haarlem), Japan (for the Okinawan, Fukushima, Takasaki and Okayama museums), Finland (Vapriikki Museum,), Spain (La Caixa Foundation) and Scotland (National Museum of Scotland). A strong passion for teaching currently involves Dr Greco in the programme of the courses of the University of Turin and Pavia; of the School of Specialization in Archaeological Heritage of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan; of the IUSS School of Pavia, with courses in Ancient Egyptian material culture and museology. In addition, Dr Greco lectures at many universities and international scientific institutions, speaking about his work experience and the scientific research carried out by Museo Egizio. Dr Greco has been a member of the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago at Luxor and, since 2011, has been co-director of the Dutch archaeological mission at Saqqara. Dr Greco has multiple popular and scientific publications in several languages has participated in international conferences on Egyptology and museology as keynote speaker.
Since 2015 Dr Greco has been a member of the Technical-Scientific Committee for Archaeological Heritage of MiBACT (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism). He is also member of the board of directors of the MANN (National Archaeological Museum of Naples) and University of Pavia.
Dr Alexander Sturgis
Director, Ashmolean Museum of Art
In October 2014 Dr Alexander Sturgis became the Director of the Ashmolean Museum, having previously held the position of Director of the Holburne Museum, Bath, since 2005. Whilst at the Holburne, Dr Sturgis oversaw a renovation of the Museum that included a £13 million extension. Prior to becoming the Director of the Holburne Museum Dr Sturgis worked at the National Gallery, London, for 15 years, in various posts including Exhibitions and Programmes Curator from 1999–2005. Dr Sturgis is an alumnus of University College, Oxford and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
Roxane Zand
Deputy Chairman
Middle East and Gulf Region
Harvard and Oxford educated, Roxane Zand began a career in museum and arts administration after three years in UNESCO. She left Iran after the Revolution to resume professional activities in London in the field of education and the arts, and as one of the founding members of the Harvard Club of London. Ms Zand was an officer of the Iran Heritage Foundation before moving to Asia House, as well as a freelance consultant for numerous projects for the British Museum and elsewhere in the art world before joining Sotheby’s in 2006 where she is now Deputy Chairman for the Middle East. Currently she sits on the Advisory Council of the Pictet Art Prize, the Development Board of the University of the Arts London, and has been appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London for her services to Middle Eastern art and culture. Roxane is Arts Editor for the Encyclopedia Islamica and she also participates as a lecturer in many international arts institutions. At Sotheby’s she has played an instrumental role in developing and contributing to sales of Arab and Iranian art, and has conducted a number of charity auctions to benefit causes in the MENA region.
Desmond Shawe-Taylor
Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, Royal Collection Trust
Desmond Shawe-Taylor studied English Literature at Oxford and took an MA in History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. He taught for many years at the University of Nottingham. He was Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery from 1996 until 2005, when he was appointed Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures. He has written extensively on English 18th-century portraiture and other subjects. Recently he curated a series of exhibitions at the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh and London, dealing with Dutch and Flemish 17th-century art, including Bruegel to Rubens (2008 also at the Royal Fine Art Museum in Brussels); the Conversation Piece; Scenes of Fashionable Life (2009); Dutch Landscapes (2010, also at the Bowes Museum) and Masters of the Everyday; Dutch artists in the Age of Vermeer (opening October 2015, also at the Mauritshuis in 2016). He was also lead curator of an exhibition at the Queen's Gallery mounted in 2014 to celebrate the tercentenary of the arrival of the Hanoverian dynasty in 1714: The First Georgians; Art and Monarchy 1714-60. His most recent project has been co-curating Charles I: King and Collector, at the Royal Academy, the first collaboration of its kind for the Royal Collection Trust.
Guido Rebecchini
Senior lecturer in 16th-century Southern European Art
Head of Renaissance section, Courtauld Institute of Art
Guido Rebecchini read History of Art at the Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, before going to the Università degli Studi di Siena, where he took a MA on the Tradizione dell’Antico nel Medioevo e nel Rinascimento. In 2000, he obtained his PhD at the Warburg Institute and subsequently taught at the Università di Siena from 2001-2009 and at the New York University and Syracuse University study-abroad centres in Florence from 2010-2012. Guido joined The Courtauld Institute of Art in Autumn 2013 as Lecturer in 16th-Century Southern European Art. One strand of his research is focussed on the court of Mantua in the first half of the 16th century, especially on patronage and collecting. Related to this is an ongoing interest in the figure, working methods and artistic output of Giulio Romano. Outside Mantua, another strand of Guido’s research concerns the transition of Florence from a republican government to a duchy in the 1530s, and for what this has meant for the arts. In particular, he has focussed his research on Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici and his cousin Alessandro de’ Medici, on their political and related artistic strategies, and cultural politics in general. He is currently working on urbanism and the visual culture in Rome during the pontificate of Paul III (1534-1549) for a book-length project.
Dimitri Ozerkov
Head of Contemporary Art
State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg
Dimitri Ozerkov is a Russian art historian and curator. Since 2007 he has held the posts of Head of the Contemporary Art Department of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and Head of Hermitage 20/21 Project for Contemporary Art, which involves collecting and displaying modern art in a traditional museum. A graduate of the Art History Department of St. Petersburg State University, he became curator of 15th to 18th-century French engravings at the State Hermitage Museum in 1999 and researched the history of the Imperial Room. In 2003 he received his PhD from St. Petersburg State University. Under the auspices of the Hermitage 20/21 Project he has curated or organised over 40 exhibitions, featuring art by Jake and Dinos Chapman, Chuck Close, Win Delvoye, Antony Gormley, Ilya Kabakov, Henry Moore, Jan Fabre, Anselm Kiefer and other American, British and Japanese artists. In 2011 and 2015 he led the State Hermitage projects for the Venice Biennale, exhibiting Dmitry Prigov and Glasstress 2015 Gotika.
Philp Hook
Board Member Senior International Specialist Impressionist & Modern Art, Sotheby’s Auction House
Philip Hook is board member and senior director of Impressionist & Modern Art Department at Sotheby’s London. He has 40 years’ experience and expertise in the art market. He originally joined Christie’s in 1973 with a degree in History of Art from Cambridge University and headed Christie’s 19th Century Paintings Department from 1980-1987. In 1994 Mr Hook joined the Impressionist & Modern Art Department at Sotheby’s where he has played a critical role in the sale of every major collection sold since this date. He has appeared regularly on the BBC programme Antiques Roadshow as a picture expert. Besides having written five successful novels set in the art world, he is also the author of The Ultimate Trophy (2009), a history of the Impressionist market, which was one of the Financial Times books of the year; and Breakfast at Sotheby’s: An A-Z of the Art World (2013) which was a book of the year in the Sunday Times, Spectator, Financial Times, Guardian, and Mail on Sunday. His latest book is Rogues' Gallery, a History of Art and its Dealers (2017).
Adriana Turpin
Director and Academic Director
IESA-UK
Adriana Turpin studied History at Oxford and then History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. She was the Academic Director of two MA programmes on the History and Business of Art and Collecting, run by the Institut d’Études Supèrieures des Arts in Paris, validated by the University of Warwick until 2017 and remains a consultant and teacher at IESA. She is a founder member of the Seminar on Display and Collecting at the Institute of Historical Research, and is the co-editor of their publications; she is also the Chairman of the Society for the History of Collecting. Adriana has written on a variety of topics related to collecting and to the history of furniture. Her most recent articles include Collecting French Furniture in 19th-Century Great Britain: Appropriation as a Form of Nationalism? in Art Crossing Borders; The International Art Market in the Age of Nation States, 1760-1914, eds J. Dirk Baetens and D. Lyna, (forthcoming, Brill); The Value of a Collection: Collecting Practices in Early Modern Europe in Locating and Dislocating Value: A Pragmatic Approach to Early Modern and Nineteenth-Century Economic Practices, eds. B. De Munck & D. Lyna (Ashgate Press, 2014); Elizabeth Carroll Consavari (Ashgate, 2013); The Display of Exotica in the Tribuna’ in Collecting East and West, eds. S. Bracken, A. Galdy and A.Turpn (Cambridge Scholar Press, 2012).
Rosella Mamoli Zorzi
Professor of American Literature, University Ca’Foscari Venice
Rosella Mamoli Zorzi is Emeritus professor of American Literature at University of Venice, Ca’ Foscari. She is the author of the book, Power Underestimated: American Women Art Collectors ((Inge Reist and R.M.Z eds., Venice, Marsilio, 2011) and the editor of Henry James’s letters: Letters to Miss Allen (Milan, Archinto, 1993), Letters from the Palazzo Barbaro (London, Pushkin Press, 1998) and Letters to Isabella Stewart Gardner (London, Pushkin Press, 2009). She is currently working on a critical edition of a volume of tales by Henry James for Cambridge University Press. Professsor Mamoli Zorzi has also written on Venetian painters as seen by American writers and organised exhibitions with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and with the Adelson Galleries.She organised a conference with the Frick Collectionon on American Women Art Collectors, which followed an international conference on Before Peggy Guggenheim. Professor Mamoli Zorzi is the founder and former director of MA in Literary Translation (1993-2003) and former President of Italian Association for American Studies as well as former Member of Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVe) Board (2007-2010). She is currently president of Venice Committee of Società Dante Alighieri
About the space
The Life Room
The Royal Academy’s historic Life Room sits at the heart of the RA Schools. Usually closed to the public, this unique and significant space was designed in the 1860s, when the galleries and art school first moved to Burlington Gardens.
The semi-circular seating arrangement, based on an ancient design, traces its British history back to Hogarth’s Academy in St Martin’s Lane, c.1730. Directional light is used to enhance the delineation of the model’s musculature and aid life drawing, which has been practised in this room by generations of Royal Academy artists and students
Our courses and classes programme
Our programme of short courses and classes offers the opportunity to explore a range of subjects, led by expert tutors and practising artists.