Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Art trade
(2,587 words)

1. Concept and emergence

Although merchants and artists had always traded in works of art, an art trade as such only developed in connection with the formation of an art market. As distinct from a system of art patronage (Patron), an art market means that prices for works of art are set in a free play of supply and demand, and that artists are producing for anonymous cohorts of purchasers rather than for a specific, known commissionin…

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North, Michael, “Art trade”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_022885>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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