In Thursday’s class we discussed the shift in the art world at around the start of the 17th century to the open market. This change allowed artists to have more freedom in what they painted and how, since they were no longer making art under the specific terms and conditions of a contract. The birth of the open market in art also led to the idolization of specific artists, and forced artists to “make a name for themselves” in order to sell their work. To do this, many artists carved out their own specific niches in the market and started to specialize in order to survive the market competition. Artists also began to emphasize virtuosity in their work to make them stand out. This means that if multiple artists were doing the same technique or communicating similar ideas, each of them worked to be the best at that technique. We also talked about how this open market led to a large number of copies of art appearing in the marketplace. Professor Plesch noted that the copies were not stigmatized in the way they are today (considered fake) because often the copies would be the artist (or sometimes even their children) recreating his or her own work if it was received well.