The Role of Art & Antique Dealers An Added Value
of dealers in building collections and interacting in the art market. Polling took place between June and August 2010 and was open to all readers and/or subscribers, with each respondent only given one chance to respond to the survey. All of the publications have mixed readerships, including those inside the art and antiques trade and private individuals. The respondents to the survey reflected this, with around 65% private collectors who were retired or in professions unrelated to the art market and 35% having some more direct connection to the art trade through their work.
1.2 Dealers and the Art Market: A Historical Reflection1
Historians often distinguish two periods in the history of the art market: the patronage period and the market period. In the first, patrons of the arts (either wealthy individuals or institutions such as the Roman Catholic church) played a pivotal role as instigators in the production of works of art as well as being sponsors and benefactors of artists and the ultimate consumers of their works.
In the early patronage period, the most significant art transactions took place outside a typical market framework, and the works involved were often site-specific and not portable (such as an altar-piece) and could not be traded openly. The artist was not the “owner” of the work in the modern sense, and their creations were usually based on commissions with advance agreements in place between the two parties on the price of materials, the artist’s fee, and even the subject matter and exact contents of the piece.
The development of the art market in its current form depended crucially on a number of factors including the production of movable works of art that could be traded openly and the emergence of a critical mass of dealers and collectors. Many mark the Industrial Revolution as the driving force of today’s modern trade, when art began to be freely traded and the primacy of the patron diminished. This era gave birth to a new middle class that had the time and money to collect art for the first time, previously a pursuit only of the very wealthy. An equally important impetus for its growth was the development of formal mechanisms for selling works of art either directly by artists or via intermediaries (dealers and auctioneers) who have dominated the market since the 17th
century. As early as the 16th century, art dealers emerged in the market as specialised professionals in
cities such as Rome, Florence and later Antwerp and Amsterdam. Through the development of galleries in these major cities, art collecting became a more visible activity, giving art buyers the chance to view and purchase individual works of art, sculptures and furniture. By around
1
2
This brief historical review is based on a thorough review of a number of art-historic and mainstream historical and encyclopaedic references. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive list of all dealers involved in the market in different periods and individuals mentioned are only meant as examples of some noteworthy dealers in some eras. Jan Bok, M. (2004) Art Market Matters. TEFAF: Helvoirt.
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