Abstract
This chapter examines the relationships between art scholarship and the art market by focusing on the effects of recent scientific advances on the economic value of old masters. The renewed interest in copies these past decades has indeed mitigated the importance of the master’s name which, nonetheless, remains a significant pricing determinant that affects the perception and consumption of the arts. Based on Pieter II Brueghel’s sale, both auction house’s discourse and the buyers’ willingness to pay for autograph and non-autograph paintings are considered to see whether this market segment has emancipated from the quest for authorship. Empirical evidence shows that auction houses still focus on the artist’s name above all, and nurture an outdated vision of art that is no longer supported by scholars.
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Notes
- 1.
Artists born before 1821 or 1875, depending on auction glossaries.
- 2.
According to Velthuis (2015), theglobalisation of the art trade has been caused by the appearance of new buyers from countries like China and Russia developing an interest in art, both old and new, and emerging countries entering the art market. The author also points out that diversification in terms of artistic production and buyers’ behaviours are the main consequences of this process.
- 3.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, ‘authenticity’ and ‘authorship’ are defined as “the quality of being real or true”, “the state of fact of being the person who wrote a particular book, article, play”. Cf. Cambridge Dictionary [online: https://dictionary.cambridge.org). Page accessed on 7 July 2018.
- 4.
Auction houses, or salesrooms, are companies that run auctions. Many of them are specialised in the sales of artworks.
- 5.
Source: [en ligne] http://catalogues.christies.com/christies-shop/ProductList.aspx?sId=28. (Accessed online on 23 October 2017).
- 6.
Unlike art dealers, salesrooms publicly provide auction results, which can be used as empirical data.
- 7.
Christie’s and Sotheby’s used to employ a specific attribution system, based on the name of the artist. When the last name of the artist was only mentioned in the note (e.g. RUBENS), the work was, in their opinion, executed by a member of the school of the artist, by one of his followers or in his style. When the initial of the first name was followed by the last name (e.g. P.-P. RUBENS), then the work was of the period of the artist and may be in whole or in part the work of the artist. When the note mentioned both names (PETER PAUL RUBENS), then the work was executed by the artist himself. Cf. unpublished document consulted at Christie’s archive (London, July 2017). We are grateful to Lynda McLeod for sharing this document.
- 8.
Detailed information is available in the glossaries provided by Christie’s and Sotheby’s in their sales catalogues dedicated to Old Masters Pictures.
- 9.
According to Lyna and Vermeylen (2009), first evidence of sales catalogues is detected in the first-half of the sixteenth century. At the time, they were already used as marketing tools, to promote the lots to be auctioned.
- 10.
The Blouin Art Sales Index is one of the most extensive and exhaustive database recording auction results from 1922 to date, covering the sales of 425,000 artists and 3000 auction houses. Prices are displayed for each lot sold, expressed in USD, EUR, and GBP.
- 11.
The basic hedonic model is the following: \( \ln {p}_{k,t}={\alpha}_0+\sum \limits_{i=1}^{\mathrm{N}}{\alpha}_i{x}_{i,k,t}+{\beta}_t+{\varepsilon}_{i,k,t} \)where ln pk, t is the logarithm of the hammer price of a paintingk, with k = 1,2,…, K sold at time t, with t = 1,2….T; xi, k, t is the ith quantitative and qualitative characteristics of a paintingk of Pieter Brueghel the Younger that depends or not of t (the year in which the lot is sold). εk, t is an error term, and α and β are parameters.
- 12.
Variables followed by ∗ are taken as control group in the model.
- 13.
See, for example, Pieter Brueghel II, The Wedding Dance in the Barn, Christie’s King Street (London), 08 July 2005, lot 24: “Instead the direct prototype for both latter types is seen to be the engraving by Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter I of A Wedding Dance in the Open Air that was published by Hieronymus Cock; a derivation from the same source is also known by Jan Brueghel I (Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts). The earliest known paintings of that subject by Pieter II are those in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, and the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, both of which are signed and dated 1607”; Studio of Pieter Brueghel II, The Wedding Feast: a fragment, Christie’s (Amsterdam), 03 November 2004, lot 39: “It would appear, however, that for this compositional type there is no single prototype, but that instead it is a combination of motifs: many of the figures coming from the Pieter I composition of The wedding dance in the open recorded by an engraving by Pieter van der Heyden, and the setting inspired by the former’s celebrated Wedding Dance in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, grouped together and then embellished by Pieter II himself”; Manner of Pieter Brueghel the Younger, A Village Scene with Peasants Dancing outside an Inn, Sotheby’s (Amsterdam), 04 November 2003, lot 4: “The two dancing couples to the right here can be seen in several paintings by Brueghel the Younger, and originates, in reverse, in a print by Pieter van der Heyden after Brueghel the Elder (see Hollstein vol. IX, no. 61)”; Follower of Pieter Brueghel II, The Wedding Dance in the Barn, Christie’s King Street (London), 09 December 2005, lot 105: “Instead the direct prototype for both latter types is seen to be the engraving by Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter I of A Wedding Dance in the Open Air that was published by Hieronymus Cock; a derivation from the same source is also known by Jan Brueghel I (Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts)”.
- 14.
See, for example: Attributed to Pieter Brueghel II and Studio, The Outdoor Wedding Feast, Sotheby’s York Avenue (New York), 9 June 2011, lot 36: “(…) The present work appears to have been executed in Brueghel’s studio. Whether Brueghel himself executed parts of the work remains unclear, though it is certainly plausible”; Pieter Brueghel I, The Peasant’s Brawl, Sotheby’s New Bond Street (London), 09 December 2015, lot 29: “(…) The relationship between the various versions is quite complex, and much argument remains as to what extent Pieter Brueghel the Younger may have worked with his brother or his nephew (…)”.
- 15.
See, for example: Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Peasant Warming themselves beside a hearth, Sotheby’s New Bond Street (London), 09 December 2015, lot 5. “If these, the version in the Dutch collection is monogrammed PB at the upper left and was exhibited as Pieter Brueghel the Younger when it was with P. de Boer in 1939. The exhibition catalogue noted that the panel was previously ascribed to Marten van Cleve. It was then tentatively given to Pieter Baltens by Georges Marlier, a view subsequently shared by Stephan Kostyshyn, who dated it to the 1570s. Kostyshyn believed that the other versions known to him belonged to the workshop of Baltens or were slightly later copies. Writing most recently in his 2002 catalogue raisonné on Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Klaus Ertz followed on the whole the views outlined by Kostyshyn and did not believe that any of the aforementioned versions could be connected to Brueghel the Younger”.
- 16.
See, for example: Workshop of Pieter Brueghel II, Christ on the Road to Calvary, Christie’s King Street (London), 08 December 2015, lot 3. “The accurate transmission of this and other details suggests that the author of this work was close to the Brueghel family workshop, who may have had access to an original cartoon (the width of the present panel corresponds to that of the autograph versions). However, the handling is quite different from that of Pieter Brueghel the Younger and the creative initiative which is indicated by numerous small changes, and the vivacity expressed in the facial types, suggests a talented and independent artist. The work is executed with the use of high quality pigments—for example, the blues used for the draperies of Christ and of Saint John the Evangelist. The painterly idiosyncrasies of the brushwork may indicate a greater proximity to the technique of Jan Brueghel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel’s younger brother”.
- 17.
See, for example: Circle of Pieter Brueghel II, The Flemish Proverbs, Christie’s King Street (London), 09 June 2011, lot 10. “Ertz notes that the present picture includes a number of striking differences from the prototype, and characterizes the picture as the work of a capable, inventive artist working under the influence of the Bruegels.”
- 18.
See, for example: Follower of Pieter Brueghel II, Figures drawing wine from a barrel outside the Swan inn, Christie’s South Kensington (London), 11 April 2013, lot 32. “Painted on an oak panel of typical Flemish, seventeenth-century construction, this composition is not to be found in any other example known to the cataloguer. It relates closely, however, to a number of compositions from the repertory of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (? c. 1525/30–1569) and his son and imitator Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564/5–1637/8)”.
- 19.
See, for example: Manner of Pieter Brueghel II, A Village Scene with Peasants Dancing outside a Inn, Christie’s (Amsterdam), 04 November 2003, lot 4. “This painting is based on compositions by Pieter Brueghel the Elder and the Younger. The left part of the composition is taken directly from a painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, depicting Peasants dancing, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 1059). The two dancing couples to the right here can be seen in several paintings by Brueghel the Younger”.
- 20.
When the attribution qualifiers are solely regressed on prices (excluding all other variables), r-squared is already 0.340.
- 21.
Note that the purchasing decision might be influenced by presale estimates as well.
- 22.
Here knowledge is related to art history. This does not necessarily mean that buyers will make their purchasing decisions according to their level of knowledge: other parameters such as personal incentives and taste can lead to less rational choices, regardless of buyer’s knowledge.
- 23.
Note that fakes must not be excluded on these market segments either.
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Appendix: Results of the Hedonic Regression
Appendix: Results of the Hedonic Regression
Independent variable = log (real price 2015 US Dollars) | Coefficient | Standard error |
|---|---|---|
By and studio | −0.895∗∗∗ | (0.296) |
Attributed to | −1.268∗∗∗ | (0.161) |
Workshop of | −1.853∗∗∗ | (0.145) |
Circle of | −2.176∗∗∗ | (0.140) |
Follower of | −2.592∗∗∗ | (0.150) |
Manner of | −3.356∗∗∗ | (0.568) |
After | −2.918∗∗∗ | (0.266) |
Works of collaboration | −0.938∗∗ | (0.398) |
Signed | 0.494∗∗∗ | (0.0939) |
Dated | 0.0596 | (0.112) |
Provenance | 0.0964 | (0.102) |
Literature | 0.178 | (0.109) |
Exhibitions | 0.245 | (0.122) |
Certificate | −0.184 | (0.173) |
Scientifically investigated | 0.283 | (0.285) |
Canvas | −0.140 | (0.133) |
Metal | 0.509∗∗ | (0.223) |
Other media | −0.154 | (0.241) |
Tempera | −0.356 | (0.967) |
Moralising genre scenes | 0.103 | 0.0847 |
Religious scenes | −0.316∗∗∗ | (0.122) |
Landscapes | −0.990∗∗∗ | (0.291) |
Other subjects | −0.819∗∗ | (0.383) |
Christie’s London | 0.645∗∗∗ | (0.143) |
Christie’s New York | 0.503∗∗∗ | (0.174) |
Sotheby’s London | 0.763∗∗∗ | (0.144) |
Sotheby’s New York | 0.710∗∗∗ | (0.181) |
Christie’s other locations | 0.308 | (0.217) |
Sotheby’s other locations | 0.619∗∗ | (0.253) |
Bonhams | −0.532 | (0.342) |
Dorotheum | 0.0800 | (0.222) |
Drouot | 0.427∗∗ | (0.186) |
Koller | 0.747∗∗∗ | (0.277) |
Lempertz | 0.370 | (0.445) |
Phillips | 0.813∗∗∗ | (0.251) |
Piasa | 0.372 | (0.317) |
Tajan | 1.029∗∗∗ | (0.261) |
Constant | 9.773∗∗∗ | (0.669) |
Time dummies | Incl. | Incl. |
Observations | 733 | |
R-squared | 0.735 |
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Radermecker, AS. (2020). The Art Market Facing New Connoisseurship: The Reception of Pieter Brueghel the Younger at Auction. In: Glauser, A., Holder, P., Mazzurana, T., Moeschler, O., Rolle, V., Schultheis, F. (eds) The Sociology of Arts and Markets. Sociology of the Arts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39013-6_8
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