Marvellous Cabinets of Curiosities
Photo 11. London
Here’s the thing about museums (it seems to me). By definition, they are cabinets of curiosities, and yet, they aspire to be marvellous…
Before we had museums, private collectors had their ‘cabinets of curiosities’1. In those days, ‘cabinet’ meant ‘a small room’ and, after dinner, the gentlemen would be invited—the ladies may now retire—to bring the port and be amazed by all the astonishing things he had procured (maybe pilfered2), from around the world. One such was a doctor, Sir Hans Sloane3. In 1753 he bequeathed his collection of 71,000 curiosities to the nation… and so began The British Museum.
It was the first national public museum in the world and, according to its legislation, it is the duty of the Trustees of the British Museum to keep the objects in the collections of the museum within the authorised repositories. Te Papa, similar: to collect works of art and items relating to history and the natural environment.
In other words, collect and store stuff. The British Museum now has over eight million objects in its collections; fewer than one in a hundred of which can be on display at any time.
Nowadays, of course, museums aspire to do more than collect and store…
I have a love for the marvellous, writes Robert Walton, a character in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, in a letter to his sister, explaining why he must join an expedition to the Arctic. I have a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects.
Darren Henley, of Arts Council England, would relate to that. He thinks museums…
…are places of learning, discovery, and inspiration. They encourage us to reflect on the complexity of the past, help us understand and make better sense of our present, and allow us to dream about the possibilities for our future4.
Easy to say, harder to do. Despite booking a guided tour of The British Museum—Around the World in Ninety Minutes, focussing on, at most, twelve objects—all I now remember is desperately wanting it to end, so I could sit down. Did love Norman Foster’s Great Court, however…
And then, at the V&A, an exhibition of Naomi Campbell’s clothes: Marvellous. And, at the Natural History Museum, the Wildlife Photographer of The Year exhibition: again, Marvellous. Totally captivated. Spent ages at both.
The experience makes me think of a second-hand shop, up the road a ways, in Hunterville. Their billboard says, proudly, We buy junk and sell antiques.
Which could pretty much apply to museums, I reckon:
We collect stuff, and tell marvellous stories.
According to one website5, there are 139 museums in London. Many of them, I venture, still cabinets of curiosity. But more and more: marvellous.
Certainly, London is—without doubt—a marvellous cabinet of cabinets of curiosity.
Next week: Monet, Monet, Monet
Wunderkammer in German: Wonder Rooms
The word ‘loot’ is from India. A Hindi word meaning stolen.
Yes, Sloane Square is named after him. Hans Sloane’s money was from slave-powered sugar plantations in Jamaica. He liked dressing up as Han Solo (joke).
www.museumassociation.org
https://museumhack.com/museums-in-london/
Amazing photo by young Alberto Román Gómez!!
I loved all the collections we saw but the nature pictures were marvellous to see as examples of people’s ability to observe. ☺️