Sheltering Art

“Rochelle Ziskin's learned study brings to vibrant life the extensive social and political networks out of which two major early eighteenth-century Parisian art collections grew, and it reveals how the practices that built each collection were decisively shaped by the ideals of these overlapping networks—as well as by the conflicts that sometimes divided them. In this way, Ziskin elegantly enriches our understanding of what was at stake in the subtle distinctions that characterized the varieties of contemporary elite taste, and she significantly enlarges our knowledge of the intricate cultural politics of Louis XV's Regency.” —Richard Wittman, University of California, Santa Barbara

“In her extraordinary new study of collecting, Rochelle Ziskin deftly explores the moment when leadership in taste migrated from the court of Louis XIV to newly fashionable Paris. She persuasively argues that two rival circles competed, endowing collectibles with distinct social meanings. Ziskin’s examination is developed in greatest depth and subtlety when she treats the houses of the leaders of each group, Pierre Crozat and the comtesse de Verrue. While Crozat established a circle of erudite art connoisseurs, Verrue created a sanctuary for art lovers. In assessing the significance of these social practices, Ziskin turns to the social codes embedded in collections and the public and private uses of the spaces that showcased them, and she examines the relationships between collecting, contemporary art criticism, and the literary Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns. She assesses the importance of the regent and his collections at the Palais-Royal and draws new conclusions about the roles played by contemporary artists—especially Watteau and Rosalba Carriera but also Claude Audran, Charles de La Fosse, the Boullogne brothers, the Coypels, and the architects Cartaud and Oppenord. Blending original research carried out in Paris, Stockholm, Turin, London, Munich, and Monaco with new questions regarding the ideological foundations of social and gender constructions, she has written an original work of high quality that will, like her book on the Place Vendôme, have a substantial impact on the field.” —Robert Neuman, Florida State University

“Rochelle Ziskin brings to life the world of art collecting and its role in defining political and personal allegiances in early eighteenth-century Paris. With rich details mined from archival research, Ziskin reconstructs the collections of prominent Parisian art collectors—including those of Pierre Crozat, the comtesse de Verrue, Philippe II d’Orléans, and Jean de Jullienne. Further, she includes much previously unpublished information on the provenance of artworks and on the configuration and function of particular architectural spaces. As she offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of these collectors and their households, Ziskin also connects their collecting patterns to larger cultural and political transformations. Sheltering Art is lucidly written and well illustrated and is an important contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of collecting, identity, and ideology during this period.” —Julie-Anne Plax, University of Arizona

“Rochelle Ziskin provides a much-needed study of private collecting in Paris in the first two decades of the eighteenth century, and of the domestic settings and ways in which the works of art were displayed in the interiors. Sheltering Art is not only a history of collecting; it also gives insight into the role that private collections played for major artists thirty years before the public display of the Royal Collection at the Luxembourg Palace in 1750 and the emergence of the public museum at the end of the century.” —Alden R. Gordon, Trinity College