The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection: The creation and display of the glass and stained-glass collection of Ferdinand II of Portugal

Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1816 1885), king-consort of Portugal from 1836, assembled a large collection of glass and stained glass in his two major residences: the Necessidades Palace, in Lisbon, and Pena Palace, in Sintra. The assemblageexposes the primordial need to highlight the importance of remembering the past, hence revealing the collector’s integration in contemporary preservationist culture. Nonetheless, the choice of the objects that should be gathered is also motivated by a certain common trend and sensibility of his time. This paper focus on these two aspects of the collection, while exploring its formation and display and comparing it to other important 19th century glass collections