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Rules versus play in early modern art markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Neil de Marchi  and
Hans J. van Miegroet
Neil de Marchi
Affiliation:
Duke University, Durham, USA
Hans J. van Miegroet
Affiliation:
Duke University, Durham, USA
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Summary

The paper identifies and tries to account for the forms taken in selected art markets for the selling of paintings, as a response to specific features and constraints in the local regulatory environment. Our analytical histories cover 15th century Bruges, 16th century Antwerp, 17th century Amsterdam, and early 18th century London and Paris. They yield some evidence that : (1) restrictive guilds did not succeed in stifling innovation. though innovators were forced to take indirect routes and to adopt forms not always the most efficient; (2) where circumstances allowed a choice of auction form (English or Dutch) the method selected matched the prior experience of buyers (low or high respectively) ; and (3) in the single instance where guilds were open to cooperation across skill categories this coincided with a series of marketing experiments and a range of novel products.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article vise à identifier et à expliquer les formes spécifiques prises par les marchés de tableaux en réponse au contexte historique, en particulier le système de réglementation. Les analyses présentées couvrent Bruges au 15éme siècle, Anvers au 16éme siècle, Amsterdam au 17éme siècle et, enfin, Londres et Paris, au début du 18éme. Trois résultats sont avancés. Premièrement, la présence de corporations ayant des pratiques restrictives n’a pas réussi à étouffer l’innovation mais a poussé les innovateurs à emprunter des voies détournées et à adopter des formes relativement inefficientes. Deuxièmement, lorsque les circonstances permettaient le choix entre des formes différentes d’enchères (anglaise ou hollandaise), ce choix s’effectuait en fonction de l’expérience antérieure des vendeurs. Troisièmement, le seul cas où il s’est avéré que les corporations ont été ouvertes à une coopération entre travailleurs de qualification différente se caractérise par un contexte d'expérimentation de marché et d’émergence de nouveaux produits.

Keywords

RegulationInstitutionsMarketsD2D4L1D2D4L1
Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , 2000 , pp. 145 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 2000 

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Footnotes

*

Our thanks to Marina Bianchi, Charles Baden-Fuller and David Ormrod for stimulating conversations, and to Victor Ginsburgh and an anonymous referee for querying our formulations at many points. Thanks also to Brian Cowan for letting us see his Ph.D. manuscript and to Carolyn Sargentson, Alicia Weissberg-Roberts, and Filip Vermeylen for clarifying details cencerning the Paris and Antwerp situations.

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