Source of artists´status anxiety

At the Anastacio Gonçalves museum I realize the source of 19th century artists´status anxiety (see here). This is because their work is... well, crap (pardon my French). Of course they were worried about their status, I would be, too, if what they made was the best I could do and I had to make a living by it.

Anastacio Gonçalves must have been worried, too. He came to collecting too late. By the time he began to collect, the best stuff has been bought and stored away -- by national museums, chiefly; but also by other great collectors who had come before him. Some of them just. Gulbenkian cleaned up the market, like a great Electrolux vacuuming up all the good stuff. Gonçalves was left with nothing but left overs to assemble.

He did find one good piece, though: a 16th century ivory crucified Christ, astounding, despite its less than perfect condition. Sri Lankan, says the caption.

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Really, modern day collectors' only hope lies in identifying as yet undiscovered art genres; like Ceylon ivories (in the case of Gonçalves); or architectural models (see my future post on San Roque).