The Art Market in Rome in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in the Social History of Art

8vo (24 cm), XII, 234 pp. Publisher's laminated boards (minor shelf wear). Studies in the History of Collecting & Art Markets, vol. 5. A scholarly collection of eleven essays examining the economic, social, and cultural mechanisms of the Roman art market during the eighteenth century. Originating from an international conference held at Palazzo Barberini, Rome, in April 2012, the volume brings together contributions by leading specialists in the history of art, collecting, and the art market to explore the networks that connected artists, dealers, collectors, antiquarians, and travellers in one of Europe's principal artistic centres. The essays address a wide range of topics, including collecting and display practices, the formation of artistic taste, marketing strategies in the Roman art trade, the role of scholarly expertise in the evaluation of antiquities, and the circulation of works of art through international collecting networks. Particular attention is given to the influence of the Grand Tour in shaping demand for paintings, sculpture, and antiquities, as well as to the movement of artworks between Italy and northern Europe. Individual studies examine subjects including Sir Joshua Reynolds in Rome, the capture of the Westmorland and its cargo of Grand Tour acquisitions, the scholarly appraisal of ancient marbles, and the career of Jean-Baptiste Wicar. Contributors include Paolo Coen, Peter Burke, Renata Ago, Patrizia Cavazzini, Raffaella Morselli, Valter Curzi, Giovanna Perini Folesani, Brian Allen, Daniela Gallo, and Maria Teresa Caracciolo. Together, the essays offer a nuanced picture of the Roman art world as a complex marketplace in which aesthetic values, scholarly knowledge, social ambition, and commercial interests intersected. An important contribution to the social history of art, collecting, and the eighteenth-century European art market.…