The Melancholy of Masterpieces: Old Master Paintings in America 1900-1914

The book is a fresh investigation of American collecting between 1900 and 1914 and of the impact of transatlantic displacements and mass media on the public perception of old master paintings. Rather than a consideration of the itineraries of their acquisitions, this is an analysis of the political, cultural and social implication of the phenomenon and how it functioned within American society and in relation to Europe. The first three chapters of the book analyse how the American press (The New York Times, The Nation, Century, Scribner's, McClure's and the World's Work) exploited the phenomenon, turning it into a journalistic genre in which the rhetoric of nationalism and civilisation, as well as that of business and speculation, provided the style of the narrative. Two aspects of the press coverage are thoroughly investigated: the collectors' and experts' public role. Chapters four to six are devoted to a case study of an unknown, but extraordinary publishing venture, Noteworthy Paintings in