We acquire mementos: an Eiffel Tower cigarette lighter, a mug from Margate, Michelangelo's David on a key-ring. All say, in one way or another: 'I was there.' It is not just airport art and souvenir-shop knick-knacks that commemorate time in foreign parts. Trophies brought home by Grand Tourists and modern travellers - bits of marble and views of Venice, archaeological finds, sculpture hacked from ancient monuments, exotic pots and textiles - all are mementos as well as art-loot and museum specimens.

LRB 23 June 2005 | PDF Download