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Art Markets, Agents and Collectors brings together a wide variety of case studies, based on letters and detailed archival research, which nuance the history of the art market and the role of the collector within it. Using diaries, account books and other archival sources, the chapters in this volume show how agents set up networks and acquired works of art, often developing the taste and knowledge of the collectors for whom they were working. They are therefore seen as important actors in the market, having a specific role that separates them from auctioneers, dealers, museum curators or amateurs, while at the same time acknowledging and analysing the dual positions that many held. Each chronological period is introduced by a contextual essay, written by a leading expert in the field, which sets out the art market in the period concerned and the ways in which agents functioned. This book is an invaluable tool for those needing an accessible yet broad introduction to the intricate workings of the art market.
List of contents
List of plates
List of figures
Series editor's introduction
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Baetens, Susan Bracken and Adriana Turpin
Part I: Agents in the market, 1550-1720I Introduction: Agents in the art market, 1550-1720 Sandra van Ginhoven
1 Hans Albrecht von Sprinzenstein: An Austrian art agent in the service of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol Adriana Concin
2 Marco Boschini and the artists of his time Linda Borean
3 International art dealers, local agents and their clients in seventeenth-century Habsburg Inner Austria Tina Kosak
4 James Thornhill as an agent-collector in early-eighteenth-century Paris Tamsin Lee-Woolfe
Part II Agents in the long eighteenth centuryII Introduction: Hidden figures - agents in the long eighteenth century Bénédicte Miyamoto
5 Scottish agents in Rome in the eighteenth century: The case of Peter Grant Maria Celeste Cola
6 'An oracle for collectors': Philipp von Stosch and collecting and dealing in art and antiquities in early-eighteenth-century Rome and Florence Ulf R. Hansson
7 Shaping the taste of British diplomats in eighteenth-century Venice Laura-Maria Popoviciu
8 Establishing honest trading relationships: Academic painters in the art market of eighteenth-century France Christine Godfroy-Gallardo
9 The German art market in the eighteenth century Renata Schellenberg
10 Playing the market: Lord Yarmouth, the Prince Regent and the role of the royal agent 1806-19 Rebecca Lyons
Part III The agent in the modern European art market, 1820-1950III Introduction: The art market in Europe, 1820-1950 Anne Helmreich
11 Edward Solly, Felice Cartoni and their purchases of paintings: A 'milord' and his 'commissioner' anticipating a transnational network of dealers c. 1820 Robert Skwirblies
12 'To see once again the glorious picture by Moretto before it is forever lost for Rome': How an artist's position in the canon of taste was enhanced in the nineteenth century Corina Meyer
13 'It is not my fault if in all the private collections, the Dutch paintings surpass all': Thoré-Bürger's promotion of Dutch art in the Parisian art market of the 1860s Frances Suzman Jowell
14 The Beurdeleys: A dynasty of curiosity dealers and their networks Camille Mestdagh
15 Collaboration and resistance: The National Gallery, London, and the Italian art market at the end of the nineteenth century Elena J. Greer
16 'I shall set at once about the work': Some agents in China Nick Pearce
17 Promoting themselves: Agents and strategies in early Surrealism's art market Alice Ensabella
Part IV Agents in the market for American collectorsIV Introduction: Collecting alliances in the United States during the long nineteenth century Inge Reist
18 Can a leopard change its spots? René Gimpel, art dealer Diana J. Kostyrko
19 Samuel P. Avery's early career: The emergence of a successful art agent, art dealer and art expert Madeleine Fidell-Beaufort
20 Dealing with allegories of the four parts of the world: James Hazen Hyde (1876-1959) and his network Louise Arizzoli
21 Laying the foundation: Harold Woodbury Parsons and the making of an American museum MacKenzie Mallon
22 Convergences: Art history, museums and scholar-agent Martin Birnbaum's transatlantic art for the public Julie Codell
Bibliography
Author biographies
Index
About the author
Adriana Turpin is Academic Director and Head of Research, Institut d’Etudes Supérieures des Arts, Paris, France.Susan Bracken is Associate Lecturer, Department of History of Art, Birkbeck University of London, UK.
