本书通过一位有影响力的商人的遗产，绘制了20世纪初艺术市场和美术馆的地理分布图。出生于爱尔兰的休•莱恩（Hugh Lane，1875-1915）于19世纪90年代在伦敦确立了自己的地位。在没有接受过正规教育或培训的情况下，他策划了霍尔拜因，提香和维拉克斯奎兹等画家的画作的备受关注的销售，并将自己的一生的工作描述为“卖过世的画家的画来买活着的画家的画”。 莱恩（Lane）为约翰内斯堡美术馆（Johannesburg Art Gallery）收藏了一批现代艺术，为开普敦（Cape Town）收藏了一批荷兰和佛兰德（Flemish）油画，并将自己的现代艺术收藏送给了伦敦国家美术馆（National Gallery）。 他还把油画捐赠给了爱尔兰国家美术馆，并于1914年被任命为爱尔兰国家美术馆馆长。这项启示性研究的每一章都重点介绍了莱恩作为商人活动的一座重要城市，以了解事件和地点之间的相互关系。

This book charts a geography of the art market and the art museum in the early 20th century through the legacy of one influential dealer. Born in Ireland, Hugh Lane (1875–1915) established himself in London in the 1890s. With little formal education or training, he orchestrated high-profile sales of paintings by the likes of Holbein, Titian, and Velázquez and described his life’s work as “selling pictures by old painters to buy pictures by living painters.” Lane assembled a collection of modern art for the Johannesburg Art Gallery, amassed a collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings for Cape Town, and gave his own collection of modern art to the National Gallery in London. He also donated paintings to the National Gallery of Ireland, where he was named director in 1914. Each chapter in this revelatory study focuses on an important city in Lane’s practice as a dealer to understand the interrelationship of event and place.