Try free for 30 days
-
Loot
- Studies in World Art, Book 45
- Narrated by: Paul Bright
- Length: 30 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Loot
Buy Now for $5.50
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's Summary
The current agitation about the restitution of artistic treasures of all kinds to their original locations is usually presented as overdue justice for faults committed by European colonialism. In fact, this is a serious oversimplification. Conquering armies have always regarded works of art as legitimate spoil.
Swedish collections, for instance, are rich in objects from the collection of the Hapsburg Emperor, Rudolph II, taken during the Thirty Years War. These, however, were not generally the work of Czech artists but the possessions of an alien court that had based itself for a while in Prague. The modern Czech Republic does not pine for them too much, even when there is proof that they were actually created in Bohemia.
Modern attitudes to the legitimate or illegitimate possession of famous artworks can be traced to the European Enlightenment that blossomed in the late 18th century, and in particular to the impact made by Enlightenment ideas on the men of the French Revolution.
