The Fortnum archive in the Ashmolean museum

C. D. E. Fortnum was an active and well-connected figure in the worlds of nineteenth-century museums, collecting and scholarship. A methodical man, he kept meticulous records concerning the objects in his collection and his publications. This material, now in the Department of Western Art of the Ashmolean Museum, constitutes an important archival resource for a significant period in the history of collecting, with particular relevance for the development of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. Following a brief description of the contents of the Fortnum Archive, this essay focuses on Fortnum's contribution to the study of Michelangelo in order to illustrate the range of documents in the archive, and also to demonstrate how Fortnum's scholarly interests developed out of his possession of significant objects.

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Order (exchange) · Period (music) · Political science · Possession (linguistics) · Relevance (law) · Scholarship · Visual arts · Archaeological Research and Protection · Art History and Market Analysis · Digital and Traditional Archives Management · History · Law · Philosophy