Painting for the market : commercialization of art in Antwerp's Golden Age / Filip Vermeylen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vermeylen, Filip.

Series:

Studies in European urban history (1100-1800) ; 2.

Studies in European urban history (1100-1800) ; 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Art--Belgium--Antwerp--Marketing--History.

Art.

Art--Economic aspects--Belgium--Antwerp--History.

Art--Economic aspects.

History.

Marketing.

Belgium--Antwerp.

Physical Description:

xiv, 208 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols, [2003]

Summary:

This study examines the process of commercialization of art which took place in Antwerp during the long sixteenth century, an era of rapid expansion of both the city's economy and its art market. The key development that explains the success of Antwerp as an export center for the arts lies not only in the strength of the Antwerp economy and the artistic tradition of the Southern Netherlands, but specifically in the shift from ordering artwork on commission to the production for the open market. The outbreak of the Dutch Revolt during the last third of the sixteenth century severely disrupted the economy of the Southern Netherlands, and as a result, the Antwerp art market collapsed in the mid-1580s.

Contents:

Part I The Antwerp Art Market in Transition (1490-1609)

Chapter 1 The Rise of the Antwerp Art Market (1490-1540) 15

1.2 The Panden until 1540 19

1.2.1 The Dominican Pand (1445-1553) 21

1.2.2 Our Lady's Pand (1460-1540) 24

1.3 The First Export Boom (ca. 1500-1525) 28

1.3.1 Paintings 29

1.3.2 Sculpture 31

1.4 The Slow-Down of the 1520s and 1530s 33

Chapter 2 A Permanent International Market for Painting (1540-1585) 35

2.1 Introduction: The Foundations of a Burgeoning Art Market 35

2.2 Temporary Disturbances and Structural Decline (1566-1585) 39

2.3 The Changing Landscape of Art Sales: Old and New Panden (1540-1585) 46

2.3.1 Our Lady's and the Dominican Panden in Decline: The End of an Era 47

2.3.2 The Schilderspand: A Checkered History 50

2.4 Art Dealers in Antwerp: A New Profession Emerges 62

2.4.1 Origins 68

2.4.2 An Art Dealer in Close-Up: The Alleyns Family Business 70

2.4.3 Some Observations on the Community of Art Dealers in Antwerp 74

2.5 Exporting Art Across the Globe 79

2.5.1 Paintings 82

2.5.2 Sculpture 85

2.5.3 Tapestries 87

2.5.4 Books and Prints 91

2.6 Points of Light in Troubled Times: The State of the Art Market (1566-1585) 100

Chapter 3 The Collapse of the Antwerp Art Market (1585-1609) 109

3.1 Introduction: The Fall of Antwerp and its Aftermath 109

3.2 The Art Market in Shambles 111

3.3 De Momper and the Schilderspand Revisited: The End of an Era 116

Part II Interpretation

Chapter 4 Supply on the Antwerp Art Market: The Organization of Production and Distribution 121

4.2 The Painter's Workshop in Perspective 124

4.3 The Regulatory Environment: The Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke 127

4.3.1 Levels of Control versus Market Forces 130

4.3.2 A Pragmatic Approach: Art Dealers and the Guild 134

Chapter 5 The Engines of Demand 141

5.2 Categories of Domestic Demand 142

5.2.1 Religious Institutions 142

5.2.2 Civic Institutions 144

5.2.3 Private Patronage 147

5.3 Domestic versus International Demand 150

Chapter 6 At the Crossroads of Supply and Demand: The Commercialization of Art in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp 153

6.2 Pre-conditions for Commercialization 157

6.3 Ramifications 159

6.4 Antwerp and Bruges 163.

Notes:

Adaptation of the author's thesis--Columbia University, 2000.--Acknowledgements

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-191) and index.

ISBN:

2503513816

OCLC:

53283752