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Exchanges of works of art at the court of Federico II Gonzaga with an appendix on Flemish art
Author(s) -
Rebecchini Guido
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
renaissance studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1477-4658
pISSN - 0269-1213
DOI - 10.1111/1477-4658.00023
Subject(s) - flemish , art market , period (music) , order (exchange) , database transaction , art history , art , law , history , political science , aesthetics , computer science , economics , archaeology , finance , programming language
The paper investigates the ways that works of art were exchanged at the Mantuan court during the rule of Federico Gonzaga (1519–1540). The difference between the art market in Mantua — much conditioned by the monopolizing presence of the court — and that in other centres is stressed in order to show the different conditions under which Federico Gonzaga and his entourage operated at home and abroad. Finally, the recovery of a notarial contract of 1535 allows us to reconstruct a key episode for the introduction of Flemish pictures into Italy. This transaction not only throws new light on artistic life in Mantua in the age of Giulio Romano, but also demonstrates the complexity of the art market of the period as well as its lack of established patterns.