Like numerous elites in the early modern era, the illustrious Fantuzzi family of Bologna expressed their socioeconomic status through the display of art in their residences. Documentation of their art survives in family records as well as notarial acts in the Archivio di Stato of Bologna. The evidence is unusually rich for the collection of one branch of the family in the early eighteenth century and includes informal diagrams that show how paintings and drawings were hung in the gallery and study in their house. Although the diagrams are largely schematic and specify only a few names of subjects or artists, archival sleuthing has uncovered account books, receipts, and inventories that deal further with the presentation of the art and its value. Taken together, these texts from the Fantuzzi archive provide remarkable information about what hung on the walls in terms of artist, medium, and subject; how the works were arranged; the prices paid for many of them; and their later valuations. The majority of the identified artists were local masters, mostly from the seventeenth century, the golden age of Bolognese painting. Drawings and paintings were displayed together, organized into what must have been thought-provoking juxtapositions of subject matter and style.

Collecting art was a fundamental component of social practice in early modern Italy, especially in Bologna. Most households contained some art, and even very modest homes displayed a religious painting or print for devotional purposes. Elite Bolognese collections grew significantly between the late seventeenth and late eighteenth century and increasingly emphasized works by local masters.