Inventories, catalogues and art historiography: exploring lists against the grain

Abstract

This text outlines the aim of this collection of essays dedicated to the topic of inventories and catalogues – essential building blocks in art historical scholarship. It situates this body of work in relation to the secondary literature and establishes new directions for art historical analysis concerning inventories and catalogues as advocated by the authors assembled here.

Keywords

• catalogue
• epistemology
• genre
• historiography
• inventory
• list
• materiality