Marketing Art in Antwerp, 1460–1560: Our Lady's Pand

Abstract

The Pand market operated by the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp from 1460 to 1560, during the annual trade fairs, was the largest and most important public art market in Europe for most of the period. The financial history of Our Lady's Pand is well documented, since the church's account books survive and record the income received from the Pand for the years 1468–1560. These accounts are analyzed, and the findings combined with information from other contemporary sources, to provide a picture of the Pand's operation, scale, growth, and decline. The origin of the Pand is placed against the backdrop of earlier art-marketing efforts in Antwerp, and its decline is presented as a function of the changing market dynamics in the mid-sixteenth century.