"Today, with the obvious growth of private and institutional collecting, and museums fundamentally changing their operational strategies, the research of collecting as a phenomenon becomes relevant. In particular, the questions of the origin, authenticity of the most valuable exhibits and the links between the Lithuanian tradition and Western European processes.Most of the examples of old Western European art in Lithuanian museums today came from former manors, which in turn ended up there in the 19th century. as the local nobility became involved in a Europe-wide collecting spree. Highly educated, spending a lot of time abroad and familiar with the latest art literature, the Lithuanian aristocracy seems to have had every opportunity to purchase not only the works of classical authors such as Titian, Rembrandt, François Boucher, Jacques Louis David, but also the rebels of the art era, e.g. . impressionist works. And yet, the latter were almost absent in Lithuanian collections, just as there were no Spanish and early ones, i.e. i.e. 13th-15th centuries Italian paintings, although their value in Europe has long been unquestioned. It is obvious that the taste and choices of our collectors at that time were influenced not only by global fashion, but also by the specific political, cultural and economic situation of Lithuania at that time. Two lectures will be devoted to these questions.
The first one will highlight and compare the 19th century. collecting trends in Lithuania and Western Europe and explains why and how the taste of local collectors changed. The second focuses more on the 19th century. for the issues of the art market - it is explained which countries, when and why became the main sources of art for Lithuanian collectors and what were the opportunities to purchase high-quality works of art in Lithuania."