'A desire for the National Good’: Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks and the curatorship of Renaissance decorative art in Britain, 1840–1900

• Main Author: Eloise Donnelly
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Art History, University of Birmingham 2018-06-01
• Series: Journal of Art Historiography
• Subjects: collecting; museum; art market; Renaissance; curatorship; Augustus Wollaston Franks
• Online Access: https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/donnelly.pdf

The figure of Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826–1897) looms large in histories of nineteenth century museum practice. His long career at the British Museum oversaw the dramatic expansion of the Museum collections, fuelled by his ambitious acquisition strategy and ability to attract major gifts and bequests. Using new research of material in the archives of the British Museum and V&A, this article discusses the role that Franks played in defining the status of the professional museum curator in the late nineteenth century. Firstly, by examining his approach to the collecting and display of Renaissance art objects at the British Museum, and secondly, by considering his role within the wider museum community in Britain and beyond, it argues that Franks’s appointment in 1851 marks a shift away from the culture of the amateur museum official towards a distinct and systematic approach to curatorship.