Old Masters Worldwide: Markets, Movements and Museums, 1789-1939

Description

As a result of the Napoleonic wars, vast numbers of Old Master paintings were released on to the market from public and private collections across continental Europe. The knock-on effect was the growth of the market for Old Masters from the 1790s up to the early 1930s, when the Great Depression put an end to its expansion. This book explores the global movement of Old Master paintings and investigates some of the changes in the art market that took place as a result of this new interest. Arguably, the most important phenomenon was the diminishing of the traditional figure of the art agent and the rise of more visible, increasingly professional, dealerships; firms such as Colnaghi and Agnew's in Britain, Goupil in France and Knoedler in the USA, came into existence. Old Masters Worldwide explores the ways in which the pioneering practices of such businesses contributed to shape a changing market.

Susanna Avery-Quash is Senior Research Curator (History of Collecting) at the National Gallery, UK, where she is responsible for activities associated with the Gallery's research strand 'Buying, Collecting and Display'. Her recent publications concerning the history of collecting and the art market include three co-edited volumes which each appeared in 2019: London and the Emergence of a European Art Market, 1780-1820, The Georgian London Town House: Building, Collecting and Display and Leonardo in Britain: Collections and Reception History. Barbara Pezzini is an art and cultural historian who has written extensively on European Old Masters and British art of the period 1830-1970. Barbara has previously worked as Editor of Visual Resources and in curatorial, research and archival projects for the National Gallery, National Trust, Burlington Magazine and the Art UK Sculpture Project.

How did Old Master paintings-once feared to be tainted by unscrupulous copies and dubious attributions-come to hold such a prized pride of place in private collections and museums? This fascinating collection, full of fresh research and exciting archival discoveries, reveals a complex network of dealers, agents, and collectors at work over the turbulent decades from the French Revolution to the Great Depression, developing new modes of authoritative expertise and adopting shrewd strategies in order to render the Old Master market into a global business. * Anne Helmreich, Getty Research Institute * An urgently needed study which brings together an impressive range of international scholarship to illuminate the history of a central element of the secondary art market. This volume carefully delineates the genealogy and subsequent development of the market for Old Master paintings in all its vibrant complexity, mapping out key aspects of the market in a variety of international contexts and highlighting the networks, actors and practices in its evolving ecology. It is essential reading for anyone studying the history of the art market. * Mark Westgarth, Associate Professor in Art History & Museum Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Art & Antiques Market, University of Leeds, UK *