ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the early phase of art market development from 1585 to 1610 from a socio-spatial perspective, visualising the changing landscape of the artistic community shaped by the influx of immigrants from the Southern Netherlands. During this period, the art market evolved from a small, highly coordinated market into a larger, open market in which various modes of coordination coexisted in relatively isolated artistic clusters within Amsterdam. Only in the 1600s did the expansion of the art market and the city itself influence painters’ collective location choices, bringing painters of various backgrounds to the east of the city. This collective choice led to the formation of the ‘artists’ quarter’ on Sint Antoniesbreestraat, which laid a solid foundation for rapid artistic development in the following decades.
