Art Collecting Tour

This paper takes art collecting as a clue to the transformation of art collecting in the early West to the early 20 th century.Early art patronage was the main form,and patronage is a concept derived by Western art historians from sociological research methods.The study of patrons has always played a very important role in the discovery of artists and the development of Western art.Art patronage also evolved over time until the emergence of museums,where art patronage and art collecting gradually shifted from private to public.When the National Gallery of London opened in the mid-nineteenth century,Charles L.Eastlake,then president of the Royal Academy,became director of the National Gallery and spent years traveling around Europe in search of collections for the museum,contributing numerous outstanding collections to the National Gallery of England and dedicating detailed travel notes to the world.It had a profound impact on public art collecting and display not only in Britain,but also in the Western world after the twentieth century.