Lucanian heritage across the world: the Spanish collections

Abstract

Within the framework of a research project based at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne exploring collections of Lucanian objects in various countries, this study focuses on the collections currently held in Spain. By following the biographies of these Lucanian antiquities and tracing their journey from Italy to Spain, the paper also outlines the history of Spanish antiquities collections, from the royal collections of the eighteenth century, when the Bourbons ruled over both Spain and the Kingdom of Naples, to the rare aristocratic collections of the early nineteenth century and the more prolific collections of prominent figures like the Marquess of Salamanca in the second half of the century. It also looks at a few items acquired on the art market during the second half of the twentieth century. In covering this ground, the paper enhances our knowledge of Lucanian collections while highlighting the particularities of Spanish collecting during this period.