Curatorial Conversation – European Sculpture in the Collection of His Majesty the King
Wednesday, 18 June 2025, 5:30pm-7:00pm
Online via Zoom
Attendance free with advance booking
Jonathan Marsden (former Director of the Royal Collection) in conversation with Bill Sherman (Warburg Institute Director) and Gregory Perry (CEO, Association for Art History)
This event is organised by the Association for Art History in conjunction with the Warburg Institute, University of London.
Please join us for the next instalment of our Curatorial Conversation series, on the imminent publication of European Sculpture in the Collection of His Majesty the King. Running to four volumes with 1300 catalogue entries, this is the latest instalment in a century-long endeavour to bring the Royal Collection into the domains of wider scholarship and public enjoyment. The catalogue is due to appear in September 2025, the culmination of 27 years of work.
Unlike a museum collection the 1800 works of art covered by the catalogue are located in palaces and residences across Britain, separated by hundreds of miles, most of them indoors but many in outdoor settings. The conversation will explore the practical challenges of bringing them together on the page, and reflect on discoveries, attributions and associations that have arisen from the process.
Cataloguing any part of the Royal Collection for the first time entails a sustained focus on that group of objects over a long period, involving collaboration between many disciplines. The publication includes more than 2500 colour photographs taken either on location or in the studio. In many cases the opportunity has been taken to undertake cleaning or conservation treatments, and – where questions of dating or status have arisen – scientific investigation.
The Royal Collection as a whole is exceptionally well documented and of long standing. To publish all that is known of the more famous works such as the bronze busts by Leone Leoni or marble statues by Canova, for example, would take hundreds of pages, yet given the exceptional size of this publication a degree of rigour has been necessary. Jonathan Marsden will reflect on setting these parameters and how his long-term relationships with the objects have allowed him a deeper understanding of their significance. The practicalities of print publication, along with the challenges of time and cost, will be discussed in light of the increasing trend towards digital-only publication.
Curatorial Conversations, in collaboration with the Association for Art History, invites museum directors and curators of recent exhibitions and installations at world-leading museums and galleries to discuss their work. The conversations, led by Bill Sherman and Gregory Perry, discuss the issues of setting the directorial or curatorial agenda and staging meaningful encounters with objects. The series is designed to draw out discussion of the discoveries made, challenges tackled and the lessons learned in heading a collection, presenting important permanent collections and putting together internationally renowned exhibitions.
ATTENDANCE FREE IN PERSON OR ONLINE WITH ADVANCE BOOKING.
Image: Canova Fountain Nymph, marble (1819), Grand Entrance & Marble Hall, Buckingham Palace: Royal Collection Trust