0100 A Noble Circle

The Vogue for Collecting Italian Paintings in Denmark 1690-1730

Abstract

This article presents a closer look at an important moment in the history of art collecting in Denmark when Italian art first began to be admired by noble virtuosi. During the last decade of the 17th and first quarter of the 18th century, a number of art collections were formed by young Danish noblemen, most of whom had travelled in the company of Crown Prince Frederik. Due to the very incomplete level of documentation we are now often frustratingly unable to gauge the exact size and contents of these collections. Yet the sources presented in the article do suggest a strong bias towards Italian art, by old masters as well as contemporary painters.