“The Master of …”: creating names for art history and the art market

Kim Oosterlinck, Anne-Sophie Radermecker, Kim Oosterlinck and Anne-Sophie Radermecker
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Kim OOSTERLINCK

ULB Institutional Repository from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: The value of a painting is influenced above all by the artist who created it and his reputation. Painters nowadays are easy to identify and are used to signing their artworks. But what about those whose names have not survived the test of time? This paper contributes to the understanding of art valuation and art brands on the auction market. It focuses on a particular subset of anonymous artists labelled with so-called provisional names (“Master of …”). After considering the origins and reception of the practice of creating names for unrecorded artists, we empirically investigate the market behaviour of this niche segment. Based on comparative price indexes and hedonic regressions, we show that masters with provisional names have not only become autonomous brand names that are highly valued by the art market; they also outperformed named artists between 1955 and 2015. In the second phase, we analyse the provisional-name linked elements valued by the market. We find that art market participants pay attention to the creator of the provisional name, its long-term recognition and market visibility, and the typology of the names.

Keywords: Brand names; Hedonic pricing model; Market for Old Master paintings; Market value; Masters with provisional names; Price indexes; Valuing process (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-08-22
Note: SCOPUS: ar.j
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in: Journal of cultural economics (2018) v.43 n° 1,p.57-95

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: “The Master of …”: creating names for art history and the art market (2019)
Working Paper: The Master of …”: Creating Names for Art History and the Art Market (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/286584

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://hdl.handle.ne ... lb.ac.be:2013/286584

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ULB Institutional Repository from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Benoit Pauwels ().