Towards a History of the Curator

Julia Vázquez

The history of collecting predates the modern-day art museum by several centuries, with its origins in the early modern period; however, art history has yet to contend with the equally long history of the care given to collections and the caretakers who provided it. The term “curator”, the use of which is first recorded in fourteenth-century Italian sources, derives from the Latin “curare”, indicating that at its heart is some conception of care. Who was responsible for the care of collections in advance of the invention and professionalization of the figure of the curator, as we know it now? What did the care of collections look like or consist of before the art museum and institutionally sanctioned care practices? This research project considers these questions from within the context of what was once the richest collection of paintings, sculptures, and other art objects in the Western world: the collection of the Spanish Hapsburgs, begun in the Spanish Renaissance with Charles V of Spain and housed in the Alcázar Palace of Philip IV until its destruction by fire in 1734. It focuses on the work of Diego Velázquez, who, although better known as the king’s favorite painter, was effectively the curator of this collection, the site where and context within which his career as a painter unfolded. Contending with the hang, among the most ephemeral of phenomena in the history of art, this project traces the outline of a figure who engenders increasing fascination but who remains as of yet without a history: the curator.