Our Cabinet of Curiosities* for summer 2026 is now officially open!

* aka: A new programme of on-demand courses from our archive

“A most ample theatre…”

aka Andrea Dominico Remps, Cabinet of Curiosities, 1690s

Firenze, Italy, Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure

Image here via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Domenico_Remps_-_Cabinet_of_Curiosities.jpg

Hans Muelich, Portrait of Samuel Quiccheberg, ca 1565

Munich, Germany, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Die Sieben Bußpsalmen mit der Motette Laudes Domini (Erläuterungsband zum Chorbuch, Bd. 1), BSB Mus.ms. A I(2), p. 297. For digitized ms, see: https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb00109876?page=,1

Image here via: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Quiccheberg.jpg

A cabinet of curiosities - aka a Wunderkammer [chamber of wonder], theatrum sapientiae [theatre of wisdom], or Kunstkammer [chamber of art] - is, according to an early ‘how-to’ guide,

‘a most ample theatre, that houses exemplary objects and exceptional images of the entire world’.

Long-standing Denizens of Wright History may recall that we have, for several years now, referred to our ever-growing archive of recorded courses as our Cabinet of Curiosities.

The first time round, this was, to be honest, at least partly a little in-“joke”.

Most of our Denizens had been with us from the early Lockdown/post-Lockdown days, as we were all making our first, tentative forays into what was, for most, a new way of connecting with each other. Our very first freelance online course - so Wright History’s inaugural outing! - was Thieves, Scholars and Dilettanti: The birth of archaeology, wherein cabinets of curiosities featured, to a small but select audience of intrepid online regulars from Robert’s pre-Lockdown courses. As more people found us in those early days, Thieves, Scholars & Dilettanti was resurrected, by popular demand, the following year, and thus several more of you were introduced to the late renaissance/early modern penchant for creating collections of weird and wonderful treasures (see here for a little more on the phenomenon).

Since then we have encountered, en passant, cabinets of curiosities in several more courses, and I am always struck anew at how especially apposite the concept is for what we do here at Wright History.

Samuel Quiccheberg, Inscriptiones vel Tituli Theatri Amplissimi, 1565

This image, c/o München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, at: https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb00025047?page=,1

The ‘how-to’ guide with which I opened is a treatise written by one Samuel Quiccheberg, collections advisor to Albrecht V of Bavaria, one of the most eager and extravagant early collectors of wonders and curiosities. Quiccheberg’s sub-title might almost seem tailor-made for our approach to history and art history, and, by extension, to our ever-growing archive of on-demand courses:

‘It is recommended that these things be brought together here in the theatre so that by their frequent viewing and handling one might quickly, easily, and confidently be able to acquire a unique knowledge and admirable understanding of things’.

I am certain that we shall return to these wonderful collections in their own right before long (you heard it here first!), but in the meantime...

I’m delighted to announce that we are opening a new “area” of our ‘most ample theatre’.

This summer, we are offering our online courses from 2024.

Frans Francken the Younger, Kunst- und Raritätenkammer, 1620 X 1625

Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, 1048

Image here via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frans_Francken_(II),_Kunst-_und_Rarit%C3%A4tenkammer_(1636).jpg

We’ve pulled all thirty-one of them (yup… THIRTY-ONE!!) from our archive shelves, so they are available for you to enjoy at your leisure. All recordings will be available until 23 October 2026.

Not with us way back then?

With us then but did other courses instead and fancy something we’ve not yet repeated?

Wanted to do something this term but couldn’t fit it in?

…Well here you go!

NB Two quick practicalities.

First, as a reminder in case you’ve not yet viewed one of our recordings: Q&A/discussion elements are edited out, for data protection reasons. What remains is a full set of Robertian Pearls of Wisdom (TM) on your chosen subject[s].

Secondly, do, of course, ignore the original dates on each course details page. Your recordings will be available as soon as we’ve sent confirmation of your registration.

To see a list of all archive courses now available, click here, then follow the links for details of content, duration, and access fee for any course[s] in which you are interested.

Additionally, to see our upcoming ‘live’ courses in calendar order, click here.