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The Labor Market in the Art Sector of Baroque Rome

Author

Listed:
  • Federico Etro

    (University of Venice, Ca� Foscari, Italy)

  • Silvia Marchesi

    (University of Milan, Bicocca, Italy)

  • Laura Pagani

    (University of Milan, Bicocca, Italy)

Abstract

We analyze the labor market for painters in Baroque Rome using unique panel data on primary sales of portraits, still lifes, genre paintings, landscapes and figurative paintings. In line with the traditional artistic hierarchy of genres, average price differentials between them were high. The matched painter-patron nature of the dataset allows us to evaluate the extent to which price heterogeneity is related to unobservable characteristics of painters and patrons. We find that the market allocated artists between artistic genres to the point of equalizing the marginal return of each genre. We explain residual price differences at the employer level in terms of incentive mechanisms to induce effort in the production of artistic quality and compensating wage differentials.

Suggested Citation

  • Federico Etro & Silvia Marchesi & Laura Pagani, 2013. "The Labor Market in the Art Sector of Baroque Rome," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-03-2013, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised Sep 2013.
    • Handle: RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-03-2013
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Etro, Federico & Marchesi, Silvia & Stepanova, Elena, 2020. "Liberalizing art. Evidence on the Impressionists at the end of the Paris Salon," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2017. "Art collections and taste in the Spanish Siglo de Oro," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 41(3), pages 309-335, August.
    3. Federico Etro, 2025. "An Economic Theory of Art History," Working Papers - Economics wp2025_21.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    4. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2017. "Art Auctions and Art Investment in the Golden Age of British Painting," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(2), pages 191-225, May.
    5. Etro, Federico & Stepanova, Elena, 2021. "Art return rates from old master paintings to contemporary art," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 94-116.
    6. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2016. "Entry of painters in the Amsterdam market of the Golden Age," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 317-348, May.
    7. Laura Pagani, 2021. "Diana S. Greenwald: Painting by numbers—data-driven histories of nineteenth-century art, Princeton University Press, 2021," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(4), pages 735-738, December.
    8. Anne-Sophie V. Radermecker & Koenraad Brosens, 2023. "Valuing European tapestry: from riches to rags," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 47(3), pages 359-406, September.
    9. Ennio E. Piano & Tanner Hardy, 2022. "Rent seeking and the decline of the Florentine school," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 59-78, July.
    10. Ennio E. Piano, 2022. "Specialization and the firm in Renaissance Italian art," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(4), pages 659-697, December.
    11. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2015. "The Market for Paintings in Paris between Rococo and Romanticism," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 28-50, February.
    12. Etro, Federico, 2018. "The Economics of Renaissance Art," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(2), pages 500-538, June.
    13. Cellini, Roberto & Cuccia, Tiziana, 2014. "The artist–art dealer relationship as a marketing channel," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 57-69.
    14. Etro, Federico, 2024. "Art and Markets in the Greco-Roman World," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 84(2), pages 432-478, June.
    15. Anne-Sophie Radermecker & Koenraad Brosens, 2023. "Valuing European tapestry: from riches to rags," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/371370, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

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