High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Baron Philipp von Stosch was a Prussian antiquarian who lived in Rome and Florence. Stosch was born in Küstrin in the Neumark region of Brandenburg. In 1709, with the blessings of his father, a successful artist who became Burgermaster of Küstrin, Stosch began a tour of Holland, France, and England, which eventually led him to Italy. In Rome, a letter of introduction brought him into the circle of Pope Clement XI, a collector and connoisseur of antiquities. Soon he developed a close friendship with the cardinal-nephew, Alessandro Cardinal Albani. Called home with the death of his elder brother in 1717, Stosch began a series of broader European journeys. Once again in Rome, Stosch became a dealer in art and antiquities at the center of the antiquarian group that were commissioning excavations in search of works of art. Above all he was a collector of engraved gems of antiquity, books and manuscripts, early engravings and drawings and reputedly a connoisseur of Roman boys.