ABSTRACT
The lengthy pre-history of the British Museum, from the Sloane legacy of 1753 to the opening of the present premises in 1851, would turn out to be somewhat incoherent by this test, because of the makeshift character of the original display in Montagu House. Lord John’s testimony gives a slightly over-simplified impression of the organisation of the museum. According to Guiffrey, Alexandre Lenoir determined at an early stage in the life of his museum to supplement his collection of works by great French artists by busts of the same artists, and by busts of a number of great historical figures for whom he had been unable to obtain contemporary effigies. Clearly Du Sommerard’s arrangement of objects eschewed the paranoia of Lenoir’s centennial system. For the acceptance of the collection of the Musee de Cluny by the French state foreshadowed the merging of Du Sommerard’s legacy with that of Lenoir.
