Royal collecting and mercater collecting in the Spain of Philip IV

Abstract

From the history of art collecting in Spain, a comparative analysis is carried out between two recognized collections of the seventeenth century: the Cabinet of Curiosities of Cornelis Van Deer Geest (represented by Willem Van Haecht, painting analyzed by means of an iconographic and iconological analysis) and the collection of Felipe IV of the Alcazar of Madrid (embodied in the inventory of 1636 and complemented with the art treatise “Dialogues with Painting” by the artist Vicente Carducho, in force at the time), developing the debate about intentionality “inwards” or “outwards” of each type of collection, the discourses reproduced by them, and paying special attention to the historical, social and cultural factors that led to these differences. In the first part there is a brief State of the Art about the history of art collecting in Europe problematizing the concepts of “public” or “private” collection. Then, each case is then dealt with separately making the proposed comparisons.