Trading Paintings and Painters’ Materials 1550–1800

An investigation into the international trade in paintings and artists’ materials during the early-modern period, exploring how imported goods shaped local production, taste, and theory. Contributors examine regional preferences, trade conditions, and the movement of materials and artworks across Europe and beyond. Using visual analysis, archival research, pigment studies, and archaeology, the highly-illustrated papers reveal how global markets influenced artistic practice and material choices.

The papers in this volume were presented at the CATS international technical art history conference Trading Paintings and Painters’ Materials 1550-1800 which explored international markets for paintings and artists’ materials in the early modern period and their implications for artistic production. Questions central to these papers include: did preferences exist for artists’ materials and paintings from specific geographical areas in particular places and if so why? How did the import of painting materials and artworks impact local production, connoisseurship and art theory? In what conditions were these artists’ materials and finished artworks produced and traded in early modern Europe and beyond? The lavishly illustrated contributions in this volume deal with the above questions and shed light on different trades, products, countries and timeframes by combining a large variety of methods and sources, including visual analyses, written sources, pigment analyses and archaeological excavations. This fourth CATS Proceedings will be of interest to scholars and students, museum professionals, curators, conservators, art historians and conservation scientists.

Foreword

Painting in a wider world: developments in the trade in painters' materials Jo Kirby

Flemish dealers and a thriving transatlantic art trade during the 17th century Sandra van Ginhoven

Quantity over quality? Dutch and Flemish paintings in a Danish private collection Angela Jager

The trade in painters' supplies in 17th-century Denmark Anne Haack Christensen

Jens Juel and the business of portrait painting Tine Louise Slotsgaard

Smudges, sponges and 17th-century Dutch painting Rozemarijn Landsman

Found in translation: exploring Dutch influence on 18th-century British landscape painting Kari S. Rayner

London, 1600-1800: trading artists' materials with Europe and worldwide Jacob Simon

The market of art materials in Quebec at the end of the 18th century: a study of Canadian artist Francois Baillairge's Journal (1784-1800) Pierre-Olivier Ouellet

Archaeological evidence of Venetian trade in colouring materials: the case of the Gnalic shipwreck Katarina Batur and Irena Radic Rossi

Efficienza e unione: practical considerations for using coloured grounds in 16th-century Italy Moorea Hall-Aquitania

'Che altri che lui non lo fa': making ultramarine blue in grand ducal Florence Sheila Barker

An unusual pigment in 16th-century Ferrara: 'Egyptian blue' in Garofalo's Adoration of the Magi and Ortolano's St Margaret Giulia Sara de Vivo, Annelies van Loon, Petria Noble, Airi Hirayama, Yoshinari Abe, Izumi Nakai and Duncan Bull

The polychrome wooden sculptures of the Jesuit reductions in Paraguay: a technical study

Julia Brandt, Corinna Gramatke and Isabel Wagner,

Foreword

Painting in a wider world: developments in the trade in painters’ materials
Jo Kirby

Flemish dealers and a thriving transatlantic art trade during the 17th century
Sandra van Ginhoven

Quantity over quality? Dutch and Flemish paintings in a Danish private collection
Angela Jager 

The trade in painters’ supplies in 17th-century Denmark
Anne Haack Christensen

Jens Juel and the business of portrait painting
Tine Louise Slotsgaard

Smudges, sponges and 17th-century Dutch painting
Rozemarijn Landsman 

Found in translation: exploring Dutch influence on 18th-century British landscape painting
Kari S. Rayner

London, 1600–1800: trading artists’ materials with Europe and worldwide
Jacob Simon

The market of art materials in Quebec at the end of the 18th century: a study of Canadian artist François Baillairgé’s Journal (1784-1800)
Pierre-Olivier Ouellet

Archaeological evidence of Venetian trade in colouring materials: the case of the Gnalić shipwreck
Katarina Batur and Irena Radić Rossi

Efficienza e unione: practical considerations for using coloured grounds in 16th-century Italy
Moorea Hall-Aquitania

‘Che altri che lui non lo fa’: making ultramarine blue in grand ducal Florence
Sheila Barker

An unusual pigment in 16th-century Ferrara: ‘Egyptian blue’ in Garofalo's Adoration of the Magi and Ortolano's St Margaret
Giulia Sara de Vivo, Annelies van Loon, Petria Noble, Airi Hirayama, Yoshinari Abe, Izumi Nakai and Duncan Bull

 The polychrome wooden sculptures of the Jesuit reductions in Paraguay: a technical study

Julia Brandt, Corinna Gramatke and Isabel Wagner

• Edited by Anne Haack Christensen
• Edited by Angela Jager