The Past Life of Pictures

Every work of art has an individual story that defines its identity. Knowledge of this biography and of the circumstances of previous ownership is a part of every collection history. The Museum Barberini has set itself the task of researching the art in the Hasso Plattner Collection with the goal of fully reconstructing the origin of each work.

In this video, Linda Hacka, provenance researcher at the Museum Barberini, tells why research into the collection is one of the core responsibilities of the museum and explains how she goes about reconstructing the fascinating biography of each work.