Alden Gordon’s current work concentrates on the history of collecting in eighteenth-century France with a special emphasis on the Marquise de Pompadour and the Marquis de Marigny, both major patrons of art in the French Enlightenment. He has curated or contributed to major museum exhibitions in Europe and the United States. His recent publications range from the history of archaeological espionage in Naples to the workings of the auction markets in Paris in the eighteenth century.

Professor Gordon was recognized by France for his contribution to the knowledge of French culture in America with the title of Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1999). Prof. Gordon lectures extensively in the United States, France, the UK and Canada. He has been a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, Paris; the Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles; the Getty Research Institute and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.