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The market for paintings in the Venetian Republic from Renaissance to Rococò

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  • Federico Etro
  • Laura Pagani

Abstract

We study the art market in the Venetian Republic from 1550 to 1750 analyzing the determinants of the prices (adjusted for the cost of living measured by the price of wheat) of figurative paintings. Reputation of the painters, size of the paintings and other quantifiable factors affect prices as expected. Other relevant factors include the placement of the paintings (on altars, ceilings or walls), whose impact reflects differences in demand elasticities. We find evidence of the law of one price confirming price equalization between high and low demand geographical destinations and between different subjects. Finally, in a Schumpeterian perspective, we relate the temporal trend of the price of a representative painting with waves of artistic innovations, whose peacks were in the 1500s and in the 1700s with a dark Baroque age in the intermediate century. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Federico Etro & Laura Pagani, 2013. "The market for paintings in the Venetian Republic from Renaissance to Rococò," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 37(4), pages 391-415, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jculte:v:37:y:2013:i:4:p:391-415
    DOI: 10.1007/s10824-012-9191-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Elena Stepanova, 2019. "The impact of color palettes on the prices of paintings," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 755-773, February.
    2. Ennio E. Piano & Tanner Hardy, 2022. "Rent seeking and the decline of the Florentine school," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 59-78, July.
    3. Etro, Federico & Marchesi, Silvia & Stepanova, Elena, 2020. "Liberalizing art. Evidence on the Impressionists at the end of the Paris Salon," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2016. "Entry of painters in the Amsterdam market of the Golden Age," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 317-348, May.
    5. Etro, Federico, 2018. "The Economics of Renaissance Art," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(2), pages 500-538, June.
    6. Ennio E. Piano, 2022. "Specialization and the firm in Renaissance Italian art," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(4), pages 659-697, December.
    7. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2015. "The Market for Paintings in Paris between Rococo and Romanticism," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 28-50, February.
    8. Laura Pagani, 2021. "Diana S. Greenwald: Painting by numbers—data-driven histories of nineteenth-century art, Princeton University Press, 2021," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(4), pages 735-738, December.
    9. Piano, Ennio Emanuele & Piano, Clara E., 2021. "Bargaining over beauty: The economics of contracts in Renaissance art markets," SocArXiv 9b6c5, Center for Open Science.
    10. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2017. "Art collections and taste in the Spanish Siglo de Oro," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 41(3), pages 309-335, August.
    11. Bertacchini, Enrico & Friel, Martha, 2014. "Determining the Value of Modern and Contemporary Furniture Design: an Exploratory Investigation," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201437, University of Turin.
    12. Masciandaro, Donato & Goodhart, Charles & Ugolini, Stefano, 2021. "Pandemic recession and helicopter money: Venice, 1629–1631," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 300-318, December.
    13. Federico Etro & Silvia Marchesi & Laura Pagani, 2015. "The Labor Market In The Art Sector Of Baroque Rome," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 365-387, January.
    14. Piano, Ennio Emanuele & Piano, Clara E., 2022. "Contracting Creativity," SocArXiv 6mkp7, Center for Open Science.
    15. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2017. "Art Auctions and Art Investment in the Golden Age of British Painting," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(2), pages 191-225, May.
    16. Anne-Sophie Radermecker & Koenraad Brosens, 2023. "Valuing European tapestry: from riches to rags," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/371370, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    17. Cellini, Roberto & Cuccia, Tiziana, 2014. "The artist–art dealer relationship as a marketing channel," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 57-69.
    18. Anne-Sophie V. Radermecker & Koenraad Brosens, 2023. "Valuing European tapestry: from riches to rags," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 47(3), pages 359-406, September.
    19. Piano, Ennio Emanuele, 2020. "Organizing artistic production," SocArXiv 73g8k, Center for Open Science.
    20. Pownall, Rachel A.J. & Graddy, Kathryn, 2016. "Pricing color intensity and lightness in contemporary art auctions," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 412-420.
    21. Shailendra Gurjar & Usha Ananthakumar, 2023. "The economics of art: price determinants and returns on investment in Indian paintings," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 50(6), pages 839-859, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Art market; Endogenous market structures; Hedonic pricing analysis; Z11; N0; D4;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature
    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design

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