ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the method of ‘spatial reading of inventories’ to reconstruct painters’ use of interior spaces by combining probate inventories with architectural sources and archival records. It identifies three typical house typologies in seventeenth-century Amsterdam and systematically examines how painters used interior spaces within each type. The analysis reveals painters’ distinctive choices in object placement, room use, and decoration pattern, providing insight into their playbooks in navigating a shifting market over time.
