The Antwerp Saint Luke&#x27;s Guild: Its Impact on Artistic Production and Identity, 1556-1663

Duff, Suzanne T.

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Year:: 2021
Contributor:: Duff, Suzanne T. (creator); Muller, Jeffrey (Advisor); Lincoln, Evelyn (Reader); De Munck, Bert (Reader); Brown University. Department of History of Art and Architecture (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Early modern history; Economic History; Early Modern Europe; Guilds; Painting, Netherlandish; Art, Netherlandish; Belgium--Antwerp; Art, Flemish; Artists' studios; artistic education
Extent:: 11, 319 p.

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Abstract:: This study of the Antwerp Saint Luke's Guild investigates how the guild's operations and social connections shaped artistic production and the status of artists in Antwerp between 1556–1663. By mid-sixteenth century, Antwerp's Saint Luke's Guild served a rapidly growing community of painters and more than fifty other craft professions, from harpsichord makers to publishers, through regulation of the local market and by fostering a diverse community sustained by formalized training and social support. The study begins at the city's height as a European trade center and concludes the year the guild founded the academy, during a period when the market for painting and other luxury goods struggled to compete with rising centers like Amsterdam and Paris. In this close investigation of three roughly ten-year periods at pivotal moments in Antwerp's history, I bring together multiple social, political, and economic factors to explain the persistent strength of the guild over time. The chapters paint a rich and complex picture of the guild's consistent, yet flexible administration as it fought to stay at the center of the professional and social lives of its socio-economically diverse membership of craftsmen, artists, and dealers. These conclusions are based on extensive investigation in the archives and on analysis of the actual products from paintings to keyboard instruments. Many historians have dismissed guilds as barriers to innovation and economic growth. This dissertation builds on recent research to challenge that position. My findings confirm that studying regulatory documents alone does not provide an accurate picture of the day-to-day operations of the guild, and support the need for a close study of a single guild over time.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2021

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Citation

Duff, Suzanne T., "The Antwerp Saint Luke's Guild: Its Impact on Artistic Production and Identity, 1556-1663" (2021). History of Art and Architecture Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:mmhyvb4y/

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History of Art and Architecture Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the History of Art and Architecture department.
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The Antwerp Saint Luke's Guild: Its Impact on Artistic Production and Identity, 1556-1663