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

by Susanna Avery-Quash (Editor), Kathryn Brown (Editor), Barbara Pezzini (Editor)

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.

Author Biography

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.