Painting and the market in early modern Antwerp

Exploration of the ways in which Flemish painting between 1550 and 1650 represented and reflected the burgeoning capitalism of Antwerp. Focus on the interaction between painters and markets as it was influenced by the changing roles played by merchants, church and city governments and consumers. Consideration of the implications of an aesthetic of display within a newly dominant manner of artistic production (collaboration) and consumption (connoisseurship), as painters tried to produce works that would appeal to the tastes of consumers. The roots of certain modern ways of collecting and valuing paintings lay within this change in aesthetic priorities.