Philipp von Stosch: collecting, drawing, studying and publishing engraved gems

Abstract

"This book, published with two online only appendices, is designed to show and discuss another facet of Stosch that would argue with the dense mythology of a spy, hoarder and libertine clouding the true nature of his accomplishments as an antiquarian, collector, patron and scholar. This is possible due to discovery and study of a substantial part of Stosch's, previously considered lost, enormous Paper Museum of Gems. The artists, including Pier Leone Ghezzi, Girolamo Odam, Bernard Picart, Antonio Maria Zanetti, Markus Tuscher, Theodorus Netscher, Georg Martin Preissler, Johann Justin Preissler and Johann Adam Schweickart, tirelessly worked in a studio organised by Stosch on the faithful documentation of vast numbers of engraved gems. Made for a variety of purposes, they expose Stosch's crucial role in the creation and transfer of knowledge that contributed immensely to the transformation of eighteenth-century antiquarianism towards a more scholarly archaeological science"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Philipp von Stosch : a lifetime of collecting / Ulf R. Hansson -- Collecting engraved gems in the circle of Stosch / Ulf R. Hansson -- Drawings of engraved gems from the late mediaeval until the nineteenth century / Hadrien J. Rambach -- Stosch and the circle of his draughtsmen of gems / Paweł Gołyźniak and Hadrien J. Rambach -- Stosch's corpus of gem drawings in the archives / Paweł Gołyźniak -- 'Pierres gravees par Stosche' in the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Krakow / Paweł Gołyźniak -- 'Pierres gravées du roi avec figures' in the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin / Paweł Gołyźniak -- Stosch's 'Paper museum of gems' rediscovered / Paweł Gołyźniak -- Stosch's 'Magnum opus -- Gemmae antiquae caelatae' 1724 in the context of his life, collecting and studying engraved gems / Hadrien J. Rambach -- Gemmae antiquae caelatae II / Paweł Gołyźniak -- Stosch and his contribution to the development of gem studies and antiquarianism / Paweł Gołyźniak and Hadrien J. Rambach.