Halvor Bagge's profound knowledge of Greece, 'an artistic eye', many years of experience and his association with the circle of scholars that surrounded Brewer Jacobsen's representative in Rome helped make him a knowledgeable art connoisseur. He originally matriculated at The Academy of Fine Arts but later turned his interest towards ancient art. He traveled to Rome and worked as an illustrator of archeological finds and in time became a renowned collector of art and antique artefacts, having his collection shown in the old Museum of Art and Design in Copenhagen, in Oslo and at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin in the period from 1913 to 1914.