Offered for the first time in English translation, the two late 18th-and early 19th-century pamphlets, written in the popular rhetorical format of open letters, present detailed arguments as to
the propriety and potential usefulness of removing works of art from their original settings and placing them in museums. Generated by the removal of antiquities from Rome following the French
revolution and later, the notorious prising of the sculpture off the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, the pamphlets examine the moral and intellectual importance of art, on the one hand, and national
heritage, on the other, a dilemma which remains equally pertinent today. The translations are accompanied by a lengthy introductory essay on the issues, Quatramère, and the pamphlets, by
Dominique Poulot (art history, U. of Paris, Panthéon-Sorbonne). Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
