Antiquari e gallerie commerciali nella Venezia asburgica

The article focuses on the gradual transformation of the dynamics, the protagonists, and the topography of the trade in Old Master paintings in Venice, after the Fall of the Serenissima in 1797. It traces a chronology of the activity of the emerging figures of professional art dealers, and discusses their backgrounds, and how they established new shops in the city centre and commercial galleries in Venice’s centuries-old palaces. Investing in the rental of prestigious premises, in the acquisition of quality works, in the cultivation of international relationships, and in the promotion of their own collections, the dealers, amidst collaborations and rivalries, deployed various commercial strategies in an increasingly competitive sector, and exerted a decisive influence on the conservation and critical history of the works they collected.