ABSTRACT
Read alongside Strange's Sale Catalogue and his Descriptive Catalogue from 1769, his methodology of collecting and copying Italian art is revealed and can be transposed onto this particular collection. The paintings that Hunter bought from Strange's sale over three days in February 1771 offer an insight into the ambitions that he held for his collection in the 1770s, by which time Great Windmill Street was well established and his various professional appointments offered him security of employment. James Hunter Italian paintings occupy, in historical terms, a moment of transition in the history of collecting in Britain. The reason for Catholic culture appears to be a conscious decision by Strange to avoid copying works of art that would involve direct consideration of the ideology of the Catholic Church. Italian art represented a radical change the dissemination of which would be more forcefully and efficiently circulated through growing international networks of commerce and exchange, and stimulated by burgeoning consumer culture.
