Research
This research focuses on Athanasios Rhousopoulos (1823-1898), professor of archaeology in Athens and one of the most influential art dealers in the second half of the 19th century. He had a gallery at home where he sold his (il)legally acquired antiquities. For this reason, he maintained relationships with fellow archaeologists, art dealers, adventurers, and travelers. His gallery attracted prominent visitors, including the Emperor of Brazil in 1867 and Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary in 1891. Dutch antiquities collectors also visited his gallery, such as Jan Six VII, Adriaan Goekoop and Constant Lunsingh Scheurleer. The German Egyptologist Friedrich Von Bissing also purchased objects from Rhousopoulos; his collection later came into the hands of Lunsingh Scheurleer. Their collections are now housed in the Allard Pierson. The research examines the exact provenance of the Greek antiquities and how they ended up in the Allard Pierson via the Rhousopoulos connection.
Fellow
Anne Versloot (1968) is a classical archaeologist who graduated from the University of Amsterdam. She is currently working on a PhD thesis about five collections of Greek antiquities assembled by Dutch collectors between c. 1880 and 1930: the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Adriaan Goekoop, Jan Six VII, Helene Kröller-Müller, and Constant Lunsingh Scheurleer. She is also a staff member of the Zakynthos Archaeology Project (UvA), where her work includes epigraphic research. This has resulted in several publications in academic journals. Previously, she worked as a (managing) editor at the Dutch opinion magazine Vrij Nederland.