The Gothic experience

Abstract

Early museum pioneers Émile Gavet and his American contemporaries like Alva Vanderbilt, Isabella Gardner, and George Barnard were not interested in re-creating specific periods with academic rigour. Gardner and Barnard bought objects they liked, arranged them sympathetically, and created atmospheric and inviting total environments. They perhaps realized that historical precision was impossible or simply preferred to stamp their own personality on their museums. It was their successors, American museum professionals of the 1920s and after, that chose to chase the elusive and shifting goal of historical accuracy.