In November 2023, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, acquired a gilt-bronze statuette of the Apollo Belvedere (M.14-2023) by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (c.1460-1528), known as Antico, through the government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme. In October and November of 2024, I undertook an eight-week collections research placement at the Fitzwilliam to conduct provenance research into the Apollo Belvedere, attempting to trace its collection history back from 1948, which was the earliest known date of documented ownership of this statuette.
While I often use objects in my own research on early modern Italy, and had some voluntary experience in museum and collections work, this kind of collections research was new to me. The intricacies of the art market in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were also something that I had not closely considered. Having established that the statuette was in the collection of Alfred Beit (1853-1906) by 1904, my research focused predominantly on his business and social circles. I drew on a combination of catalogues of private art collections, the private correspondence of men such as Wilhelm von Bode (director of the Berlin museums) and the British artist and collector Charles Fairfax Murray, together with sales catalogues from major auction houses. This research opened up a serious of fascinating interactions between continental Europe, England, and Africa during and after the Boer War and the First and Second World Wars which all contributed how the Fitzwilliam’s statuette’s attribution was made and to how it ultimately made its way to the Museum.
As well as producing an internal report and writing a public-facing blog, parts of my research also went towards updating and enriching the item record in the museum catalogue, and it was good to be able to think about how information about individual items is communicated to broader academic and public audiences.
Alongside my provenance research, I had some thought-provoking meetings with staff from across several of the Museum’s departments, including curatorial, digital, and participation, as well as undertaking object handling training. I was also lucky enough to sit in on some object handling classes run for undergraduate History students. Learning about individual roles in a range of departments and the ways that they fit together across the museum has been inspiring, and I really appreciated the time that so many people gave to speak with me about their roles and experiences, at the Fitzwilliam and across their careers.
I would really encourage other AHRC students to take up the opportunity to complete a placement. Especially if there are areas of work adjacent to your research that you are interested in pursuing, it’s a wonderful opportunity to get a sense of the kinds of work that might be involved in other fields.