Art at Auction in 17th Century Amsterdam

John Michael Montias (1928) was trained as an economist (Ph.D. Columbia University, 1958). In the first part of his career, he specialized in the comparison of economic systems. Since 1975, he has devoted most of his research to the art market in the 17th century Netherlands. His first book, Artists and Artisans in Delft; a Study of the Seventeenth Century, was published in 1982, his second, Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History, in 1989. Since then he has written a book in French on the art market in the Netherlands (Le marché de l'art aux Pays Bas, 15ème-18ème siècles, 1996) and, with John Loughman, a book on the hanging of pictures in 17th century Dutch houses (Public and Private Spaces; Works of Art in Seventeenth Century Dutch Houses, 2000).