The essays featured in this book cover a broad spectrum of topics related to individual identity strategies and art collecting in the late modern era. They give a pan-European perspective on collecting in its various facets, encompassing the history of museums, exhibition policy, art market history, history of taste shaping and provenance research. By showing how collecting mirrored the social problems of modernity, this book indirectly addresses issues such as the sociocultural role of ethnic minorities, the question of women's emancipation, social exclusion versus inclusion, colonialism and the politicisation of museums. These matters, analysed in the context of private collections, reveal the complexity and relevance of the cultural processes underpinning many social issues that remain the subject of reflection to this day.