Ca' Foscari University of Venice - Research fellowship for specific project:The relationship with the past in an era of revolutions: The collection of G.A. Molin (1738-1814)

Antiquarian collectionism, both as a means of social distinction and as an instrument of selection of past artifacts, went through deep changes following the fall of the ancient regimes. This threw into disgrace many aristocratic fortunes, dispersing important collections, but also questioned a relationship with antiquity that had been consolidated since the Renaissance and that became the object of conflicting interpretations. The case of Girolamo Ascanio Molin appears emblematic in the light of the recent rediscovery of his archive. This sheds light on the relational network and on the vision of a collector of antiquity who passed from political activity in the Republic of Venice to the defense of its memory in an antinapoleonic attitude. The research will analyse the changes in the relationship with the ancient past and its political and social uses in this context