A brief history of collecting. The ancient world and the middle Ages
ARTinvestment.RU   31 января 2020

In the history of the subject that-то may seem naive, the other — to be used in the practice of market participants. One thing is certain: in any profession, knowledge of each successful person should be based on the successes and failures of his predecessors

"Nothing new since then, as someone-то demanded a bone for viewing cave paintings", — talked about the origins of the art market, the hero of the film "Velvet chainsaw". A story about the history of collecting, we will inevitably begin by mentioning the market, because the collector — one of the two main driving forces. Any market — floral, oil or currency — is always the balance of supply and demand. The art market is no exception: for the proposal it meets the artist, the demand is provided by the collector. And how auction houses, galleries, dealers and other figures, you ask? They — regulators of the market, in theory, to maintain the balance in the ecosystem and between the collector and the artist.

In theory — as major players, for example, a conditional of the Gagosian gallery, it's tempting sometimes just to shift the scales in favor of the proposal — for example, demonstrating to the world a new star to be love... and buy. And only developed the taste of the collector, his erudition in the history of art and pricing may prevent the regulators to influence the market. I hope our main message is obvious: it is the collector is one of the main values in the art market. The first thing you have to learn the young collector, — never to forget that.

In the literature on the history of art you can find a reference to the appearance of the first collections in Ancient Egypt. In the tombs of pharaohs and priests age III — II millennia BC have been found meeting the objects placed there during the burial: from the collections of mummified bugs-скарабеев to objects of decorative art. But it is unlikely that the pharaohs can be called by collectors: for in vivo preparation of these meetings to participate, they did not accept. Rather, we are talking about one of the first manifestations of the curatorial approach to the formation of the afterlife of collections.

the First mention barter transactions with art objects came to us from Ancient Greece. The vase-painter of Fenty who worked around the VI century BC, immortalized the process of buying his vases, another vase painted with images of the seller and the buyer. There, in Ancient Greece, and began the first deliberate collection of objects of art. In the IV century BC was the flourishing of Hellenistic culture, whose art was dominated by the sculpture. Most of the sculptures were originally created to decorate temples, and the local aristocracy, wishing to be like the gods, carrying some sculptures from public spaces in the gardens of their homes.

the Word "corruption", however, came not from Greece, but was born a little later — in Ancient Rome. At the turn of the Millennium in the Eternal city had already conducted the first auction, where items of decorative art, mainly the spoils of military campaigns, participated in the auction along with slaves and animals. It is noteworthy that with the aim of selecting the most valuable lots in the campaigns were sent special people — prototypes of modern art-консультантов at international fairs. In Rome until its decline in the fifth century there existed a culture for the creation of municipal collections: the villas — buildings, administrative centres — were presented sculpture, painting and books. Theremention that the Villa Publica (translated as "House for people"@the semicolon in today's language, a mixture of public reception and ceremonial hall meetings) organized meetings were held in the art-дилеров and trading operations.

the Story of collecting in the Ancient world would be incomplete without mentioning China. Qing dynasty and Han (III century BC — III century of our era) made one of the foundations of a powerful world state the principles of love of art. Calligraphy, received the title of "art art" was the subject of collectibles — is so widespread that already in the VIII century, for it had to produce certificates of authenticity appeared first forgery. In later centuries, by the way, will be first discovered and fake certificates of authenticity that accompanied inauthentic calligraphy. Finally, in 1388 in China was published the first guide for the collector for the acquisition and management of art — "Basic criteria of antiquities".

Back to Europe, where meanwhile, there were the first corporate collection. And this collection was dominant on the continent throughout ten centuries, since the owner was both the main customer of the creation of works. We are talking about the Catholic Church. Since the establishment of the papacy, and the spread of Catholicism, the Church defined the art two important roles: educational and edifying. Artists have created works illustrating biblical texts for the illiterate parishioners, and at the same time — in paint was reported, what will happen to them for failure to comply with the canons of the Church and the indulgence of temptations. Secular (non-Church) painting manifested itself only in book illustrations, to the XV century — on parchment. Meanwhile, the Vatican has formed a unique collection of art objects.

However, in confirmation of the rules was and the two countries-исключения, developed its own art market and raised first conscious collectors. One country was so prone to revolutionary movements and epidemics that the Pope did not pay attention to it, the other — is too economically independent to respond to the tenets of the Church. Talking about Flanders and the Republic of Venice. Which — in the rest of the material.

Denys Belkevych, AI