"Museum Studies is coming into its own as a field of academic inquiry, and so it is a great pleasure to read Professor Ruprecht's latest contribution to the branch of intellectual and cultural history he has been making his own. Quatremere is fortunate in his most recent biographer: As always, Ruprecht writes with verve and elegance, demonstrating a erudite and subtle understanding of the way the arts of modern civilization along with its manifold discontents - created not only the modern Museum, but also our conflicted attitudes towards the treasures it obtains, contains, and conserves." Lori Anne Ferrell, Professor of Early Modern History and Literature, Claremont University, USA