Painting & the Market in Early Modern Antwerp (Yale Publications in the History of Art)

Rating:
Summary: Filled with unfortunate historical inaccuracies
Review: A very well-written book, and presumably well-intentioned. Unfortunately, many, many mistakes which undermine the project. It may be great for a casual reader, but for those sincerely interested in the art and history of the time and place, I would not recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Filled with unfortunate historical inaccuracies
Review: A very well-written book, and presumably well-intentioned. Unfortunately, many, many mistakes which undermine the project. It may be great for a casual reader, but for those sincerely interested in the art and history of the time and place, I would not recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: thought-provoking AND a good read!
Review: Smart, scholarly, compelling, and well-written to boot. This is a book that will change the way you think about Flemish painting. Although its topic is ostensibly narrow--pictures of markets from about 1550 to 1650--it actually offers an entirely new interpretation of Flemish artistic culture, and it does it by using a refreshingly new methodology. Honig argues that painting became a site where issues of economic thinking (about value, exchange, desire) were rehearsed and finally resolved, although their resolution spelled the end of the market genre. The best chapters were Ch.3, on Beuckelaer's *Ecce Homo* scenes set in a market (these, she shows, are about judgment, justice, and market desire) and Ch.6, where she discusses the history of connoisseurship, collecting, and forgery. Great stuff and some excellent prose.

Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!!!!
Review: This book made me want to run out to the nearest market and consume huge amounts of food! Brilliant typing and great big colorful pictures. I didn't get through the theoretical or historical stuff but I loved the way the pictures looked!