Author: Montias, John Michael

Publication Year: 1979

Media Type: Book

Summary:

Paper presented at First International Conference on Arts and Economics, sponsored by the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 8-10, 1979. Comment by Ina Stegen appears on p. 147-149.

Abstract:

Paper presented at First International Conference on Arts and Economics, sponsored by the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 8-10, 1979. Comment by Ina Stegen appears on p. 147-149.

In mid-seventeenth century Delft, perhaps two-thirds of the population, estimated at 30,000 inhabitants, lived in households possessing paintings. All in all, as many as 40,000 to 50,000 paintings hung in the city's 4,000-odd houses at the time. I doubt whether 100 of the paintings are left in Delft today. Almost all the cheap ones, which cost a few stuivers when they were first bought, have disappeared, burnt in fires or thrown away with the rubbish when they were no longer worth keeping, before they acquired the value of age and scarcity conferred on even the poorest daubs. (p. 139).

CONTENTS
Delft inventories.
Results of the analysis of inventories.
Notes.
References [bibliography].

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Creative Economies