ABSTRACT
In the vocabulary of satire antiquarians emerge as distinctive and grotesque characters. The antiquarian is a historical problem, but not a problem to be analysed only from the perspective of historiography and the history of ideas, however valuable that may be. Antiquarian motivations and methods existed across a range of social spaces, and they encompassed both textual and visual representations and the most refined and the most prosaic cultural productions. Antiquarian products are susceptible to an uncritical reading that would posit them as neutral or untainted by social and political desires. The history of antiquarianism, as expounded by modern antiquarians and archaeologists, has long accounted for its decline with direct reference to its popularization and diffusion. The contribution of classical antiquarianism to the shaping of modern culture has been shown to be crucial. The contribution of the antiquarians to modern culture remains a potentially rich area of enquiry.
