Enfilade

From Bloomsbury:

Susanna Avery-Quash and Barbara Pezzini, eds., Old Masters Worldwide: Markets, Movements and Museums, 1789–1939 (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 320 pages, ISBN: 978-1501348143, $130.

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.

Susanna Avery-Quash is Senior Research Curator (History of Collecting) at The National Gallery London. Barbara Pezzini is a prolific writer on European Old Masters and British art of the period 1830–1970; she has previously worked in curatorial, research, and archival projects for The National Gallery, National Trust, and The Burlington Magazine.

C O N T E N T S

List of Figures
Series Editor’s Introduction, Kathryn Brown
Foreword, Gabriele Finaldi
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations

Introduction, Susanna Avery-Quash and Barbara Pezzini

Part I: Developing European Networks, 1780–1894
1  The European Market for Italian Old Masters after Napoleon — Robert Skwirblies (Technische Universität Berlin)
2  Old Masters from Rome to London: Alexander Day and Pietro Camuccini — Pier Ludovico Puddu (Palacký University, Czech Republic)
3  Selling Old Masters in Britain, France, and the Netherlands: The Networking Strategies of John Smith — Julia Armstrong-Totten (Independent Scholar, USA)
4  A Web of Agents: Buying Old Masters for the National Gallery, London — Susanna Avery-Quash (National Gallery, UK)

Part II: Gaining International Visibility and Expertise, 1850–1909
5  Old Masters versus Modern Art in Parisian Auctions — Léa Saint-Raymond (Université Paris Nanterre)
6  Agnew’s from Modern Art to the Old Masters — Barbara Pezzini (Independent Scholar, UK)
7  Taste or Opportunity? Durand-Ruel and Spanish Old Masters — Véronique Gerard Powell (Independent Scholar, France)
8  Authority and Expertise in the Old Master Market: Bode and Duveen — Catherine Scallen (Case Western Reserve University)
9  Scholar, Dealer, and Museum Man: Robert Langton Douglas in the International Old Master Market — Imogen Tedbury (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Part III: Casting a Wider Web, 1900–1939
10  A Missed Opportunity? Goupil and the Old Masters — Agnès Penot (Independent Scholar, USA)
11  Knoedler and Old Masters in America — Inge Reist (The Frick Collection)
12  Trust, Friendship, and Politics in the Old Master Market: Duveen and the State Art Collection of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia — Jelena Todorovic (Faculty of Fine Arts, Serbia)
13  Negotiating Old Masters for the Melbourne National Gallery — Monique Webber (The University of Melbourne and Monash University Art Design and Architecture)
14  The Distant Old Masters of South Africa — Jillian Carman (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)

Select Bibliography
Author Biographies
Index