 Re-presenting Silver in Early Modern EuropeRenate Pieper ()
Chapter Chapter 4 in Mining, Money and Markets in the Early Modern Atlantic, 2019, pp 63-84 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract Silver had a dual function in early modern Europe: as money and as a luxury. So far, the two functions have been studied separately. The purpose of this study is to examine both aspects of silver side-by-side. Analysing still lives and vanitas paintings from the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic during the Golden Age of the seventeenth century reveals that silver in its distinct forms was understood in radically different lights. This contradictory representation is further evident in handwritten newsletters and printed newspapers describing the Spanish silver fleets and the further distribution of silver within Europe. Presented as bullion, as a commodity for trade and elaborate silver artefacts, silver meant wealth and richness. Presented as coin, though, silver meant vice, gambling and war. Thus, although money needed to be backed to a certain extent by (American) silver and the commercial value of bullion, silver-as-money was seen as evil in its most tangible form. Keywords: Golden Age; Dutch Republic; Paintings; America; Spain; Newsletters; Newspapers; Silver; Art; Coins; Artefacts; Vanitas; Still lives (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palscp:978-3-030-23894-0_4 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-23894-0_4 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Studies in Economic History from Palgrave Macmillan |
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