ABSTRACT

The relation between ancient art criticism and history and art collecting has been discussed in detail by Alsop (1982) and recently by Tanner (1995). They both claim that the development of a certain critical view of art has implications on art collecting. Alsop (1982), in particular, has argued that art collecting at a very early stage preceded art history; this led to an appreciation of old masters.Then art criticism and history were created, which in turn led to art collecting in a more systematic way.