The Development of the Art Market in England, Money as Muse, 1730–1900

European art markets did not evolve simultaneously or secularly. Instead, their growth was often fragmented and haphazard. The exception was England, which in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed the development of a modern art market uninterrupted by wars on native soil and aided by relatively steady economic growth. As art emerged as an exchangeable commodity, dealers and institutions engaged in it were forced to improve their respective exchange qualifications, and the unprecedented explosion of styles that started in the latter part of the nineteenth century can be attributed to the influence of the institutional art dealer.

This book gives a comprehensive account of the history and underlying economics of the modern art market in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Britain. Bayer and Page argue that economics shaped and developed visual culture to the extent that we should no longer restrict market issues to narrative discussions of dealers’ involvements in the careers of specific artists. Economic, econometric and statistical analyses of two specifically created, and particularly rich, data sets that record over 42,000 auction and dealer-based sales of paintings in London between 1720 and 1910 reveal hitherto unknown transaction patterns and trade modus operandi that offer unprecedented insight into the operations of the art market.

Chapter One

Chapter one examines the changing arts environment in sixteenth-century Netherlands to introduce the methodological concepts we will then apply to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. Furthermore, by serving as a precedent, the discussion of the Netherlandish art market will show that the later developments in England were not unique to the island but were, in fact, inherent phenomena associated with a structurally transforming and expanding art market. Chief among these was the emergence of professional art dealers. Therefore, it is a further intent of this section to introduce this exchange agent and to illuminate the importance of the role of middlemen and its association with market growth, composition and product diversity.

Chapter Two

Chapter two focuses on the manner in which the British arts environment changed from the beginning of the eighteenth century, when there existed no picture galleries, no museums, and no places where native artists could exhibit their work, to one which, by the 1770s, sported numerous independently organized artists’ organizations, a royally sanctioned academy, public exhibition facilities visited by tens of thousands of fashionable art enthusiasts, and in which the leading exhibitors of the day were no longer foreigners but native born Englishmen. By then, the trade in contemporary pictures and prints had developed into an enormous commercial enterprise; artists had become socially accepted within the circles of ‘respectable’ society; and art criticism had entered its nascent stage. Chapter two specifically discusses the transformation of aesthetic and economic theories and discourse and their steady development towards accommodating an increasingly larger public.

Chapter Two Images

Painting of William Wollaston and his Family by William Hogarth

‘William Wollaston and his Family in a Grand Interior’ (1730) by William Hogarth

Conversation Piece (Portrait of Sir Andrew Fountaine with Other Men and Women) by William Hogarth, c. 1730–35

Chapter Three

Chapter three examines the evolution of artists’ social position from lowly ‘mechanics’ to their acceptance among polite society, the development of artists’ organizations, art marketing and dealing. From the early establishment of proto-academies and artists’ self-help societies to the use of charitable organizations for status enhancement and the newly emerging leisure industry for public exposure, native British painters displayed great ingenuity and entrepreneurship as they reinvented themselves and adapted their products to suit the changing market environment.

The Conjuror, by Nathaniel Hone

The Death of the Earl of Chatham, by John Singleton Copley, 1781

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar circa 1783 John Singleton Copley 1738-1815

Sigismunda Mourning over the Heart of Guiscardo 1759 William Hogarth 1697-1764 Bequeathed by J.H. Anderdon 1879 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N01046

The Death of Nelson by Benjamin West, 1806

The Death of Nelson is a painting by the American artist Benjamin West dated 1806.

Death on the Pale Horse by Benjamin West, 1817

Jacques-Louis David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799

The Intervention of the Sabine Women, by Jacques-Louis David, 1799

Sinking of the Centaur After: James Northcote Print made by: Thomas Gaugain

An Attempt to Illustrate the Opening of the Sixth Seal, Francis Danby, 1828

An Attempt to Illustrate the Opening of the Sixth Seal, 1828 Oil on Canvas 72 4/5 x 100 1/3 in. The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon (1816) John Martin

Chapter Four

Chapter four introduces the newly emerged art writer/critic as an important ally in the economic emancipation of artists. The growing market for writers’ products initiated a search for new topics with which to compete for audiences. By aiding the consumption of cultural goods, these writers performed an economic function essential to the continuing expansion of an art market. In addition, this chapter employs our extensive auction sales data to explore the changing character of art auctions in London from their early beginnings as dealer-staged, unregulated, sales events where caveat emptor ruled to their ultimate establishment as regulated public exchanges and market reference.

Chapter Five

Chapter five discusses the first appearance of contemporary art dealers in eighteenth-century Britain. Our data show that the evolution of picture dealing from diverse proto-professional beginnings to international enterprises was based on a gradual recognition and alignment of shared economic interests between painters and professional middlemen. Of great significance here was the role of the reproductive print as catalyst. The vast print publishing enterprises of the last quarter of the eighteenth century gave middlemen and painters the first significant opportunity to explore the benefits and pitfalls of such a union. The chapter closes with an examination of the effects of the Napoleonic Wars on this nascent and still fragile alliance. The turmoil on the Continent caused a temporary collapse of the British export trade for reproductive engravings as well as a shift of dealers’ focus away from contemporary British painting to the more profitable exploitation of arbitrage opportunities in the realm of old masters. However, as the supply from the Continent dwindled and became riddled with fakes, middlemen’s interest moved again towards native artists. In economic terms, this change marks the onset of the mid-Victorian art boom.

The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West, 1770

Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, 1770

Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley, 1778

Chapter Six

Chapter six briefly discusses the changes in patronage as old and new wealth shifted from collecting Old Masters to buying works by living artists. Our data show that this change in consumption habits was associated with a significant increase in dealer presence in the market. This occasions us to revisit the earlier theme of institutionalized art dealing and focus on the modus operandi of the now established Victorian picture dealer and its effects on the period’s arts environment. A case study of 2 years of the business activities of the prominent dealer Arthur Tooth provides unprecedented insight into the operations of a typical mid-Victorian art dealing enterprise. The data show that the institutionalized trade, based on collaborative fixed location retailing, was, and still is, to a far greater extent responsible for the widely acknowledged increase in stylistic variety and innovation that occurred during this period than conventional art history has hitherto acknowledged.

1849 painting Coming of Age by William Powell Frith

Coming of Age by William Powell Frith, 1849

Chapter Seven

Chapter seven focuses on mass-produced reproductive prints and professionally organized and managed commercial exhibitions of art as the two foremost methods by which dealers disseminated an unprecedented number of art products. The resulting revenues provided much of the financial fuel for the mid-Victorian art boom. We discuss specific publishing and exhibition ventures as examples of the scale and sophistication these enterprises assumed. This chapter also revisits the increasingly important art writer whose role had expanded correspondingly to dealers’ activities. The very exchange system of art defined the changing parameters of art writers’ activities within the context of the shared goal of increasing the consumption of art.

William Holman Hunt, The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, 1860

The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple by William Holman Hunt, 1860

William Holman Hunt, The Shadow of Death, 1873

The Shadow of Death by William Holman Hunt, 1873

William Holman Hunt, The Light of the World

The Light of the World by William Holman Hunt

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, The Duchess of Abercorn and Child, 1834-6

The Duchess of Abercorn and Child 1834-6 Sir Edwin Henry Landseer 1802-1873 Presented by Edwin L.MacKenzie 1914 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N03008

Edwin Landseer, The Illicit Highland Whisky Still, 1829

The Illicit Highland Whisky Still by Edwin Landseer

‘Duke of Sutherland’s Children’ by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

Edwin Landseer, Oxen at the Tank - Geneva, 1876 Steel Engraving on wove paper

Oxen at the Tank by Edwin Landseer, 1876

edwin-landseer-the-two-dogs

The Twa Dogs by Sir Edwin Landseer, 1822

Sir Edwin Landseer, The Monarch of the Glen

The Monarch of the Glen by Sir Edwin Landseer 1851

Elizabeth Thompson, Calling the Roll After An Engagement, Crimea, 1874

Calling the Roll After An Engagement, Crimea by Elizabeth Thompson, 1874

1280px-Ramsgate_Sands

Life at the Seaside by William Powell Frith, 1854

William_Powell_Frith_The_Railway_Station

The Railway Station by the William Powell Frith, 1862

William Powell Frith, The Derby Day, 1858

1280px-William_Powell_Frith_-_The_Derby_Day_-_Google_Art_Project

The Derby Day by William Powell Frith, 1858

Brutus Condemning His Sons to Death by Guillaume Guillon-Lethière, 1788

1280px-JEAN_LOUIS_THÉODORE_GÉRICAULT_-_La_Balsa_de_la_Medusa_(Museo_del_Louvre,_1818-19)

The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault, 1818–1819

Chapter Eight

Chapter eight investigates the meteoric rise of the London art auction firm founded by James Christie. Our data show that the number of different art auction firms that were active in the market during the eighteenth century had dwindled, resulting in a near monopoly of this one firm by the end of the Napoleonic war period. As the market turned away from old paintings, Christie’s market dominance enabled the firm to establish itself as the central exchange platform for contemporary paintings. The trend was fueled by the recognition of mutually shared economic interest among all players. To that end and in close cooperation with dealers, the auction firm evolved towards performing certain market making and regulatory activities to check market volatility.

Chapter Nine

Chapter nine presents the different effects that this dealer-centered market had on paintings produced under such conditions. The changes that differentiate nineteenth-century British pictures from their eighteenth-century predecessors can be explained, in addition to the traditional social causes, by the appropriation of the art market by institutionalized dealers for the purpose of selling art products to primarily middle class consumers for domestic use.

Chapter Ten

Chapter ten discusses the inevitable decline of the mid-Victorian art boom. We argue that the ‘Golden Age’ came to an end in Britain mainly due to the success of, and consequent economic dependency on, mass-marketed prints and the associated dealer-organized exhibitions. Confronted with the new medium of photography, rampant copyright violations and adverse changes in copyright laws as well as the availability of cheap substitutes, the more expensive steel engraving could no longer compete. These formidable pressures on the existing market structure were further compounded by new aesthetic theories that arose as a result of the market’s demand for innovation and undermined the well-worn product characteristics of Victorian painting. A closer examination of the Etching Revival movement is presented as a paradigm of art producers pro-actively redesigning their products and successfully challenging prevailing aesthetics. We also discuss here in greater detail the brief history of the Grosvenor Gallery as a model for the kind of innovative competition in art marketing that is both symptom and agent of change. A similar role was played by dealers from the Continent who came to England hoping to profit in London’s buoyant art market. In addition, contemporary British painting was again threatened by a resurgence of interest in old master works which, by comparison to works by living artists, were undervalued.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter eleven presents a brief summary and relates our research findings to the present art market. The process of commoditization we traced throughout the preceding chapters continues to shape the arts environment. Aesthetic theories and their associated art products have multiplied corresponding to the market’s expansion; exhibitions have become enormous in scope; dealers have become even more crucial to the arts environment; critics further entrenched themselves; a duopoly emerged in the international auction market; and numerous investment art funds, employing varying business models have become major players. Art market historians offer their services to art investors, and even academic art history, studio art and the international museum community have become an integral part of this multi-billion pound international market for cultural goods. A comprehensive understanding of our visual culture, both past and present, requires, therefore, that we take the formative effects of the market fully into account.

Glossary

NG: National Gallery, Lundo

SA: Society of Arts

ARA: Associate Royal Academician

RA: Royal Academician

BI: British Institution, 1806-67

ARSA:Associate of the Royal Society of Scottish Artists

RWS: Royal Watercolour Society

SS: Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street

NWS (RI): New Watercolour Society

OM: Order of Ment

OWS: Old Watercolour Society