Art Market

Abstract

This overview concentrates on newer studies on art markets and on research that has not yet received attention in this context. This is not a résumé of recent art market research in general; rather, it is limited to the greater Renaissance. That is why Italy and the Low Countries are the areas that are of central importance. Of late, interest has centered on cultural transfer, that is, the diffusion and reception of the Renaissance and humanism in, and even beyond, Europe. In addition, studies of the Renaissance emphasis its social and economic location and, thus, the question of patrons, the art market, and the demand for art. Although this field has established its own research tradition in the past fifteen to twenty years, the dominant scholarship, stressing intellectual history or aesthetic approaches, has not taken adequate account of the development. Various sociological approaches have been tested for the reception of Italian Renaissance painting. We may distinguish here between macro-sociological, micro-sociological, and (macro-)economic approaches. The macro sociologists study the development of European society and associate particular artistic phenomena, such as the Italian Renaissance, with it. The micro-sociological approach, in contrast, places the material conditions under which art was produced at center stage. This approach includes, among others, the study of painters’ training, guild organization, and the relationship between painter and patron. Finally, the economic approach seeks to examine the links between a period’s artistic production and economic cycles. In all three approaches, the art market plays a role, although the focus could be on production and reception of art.