Making Copies in European Art 1400-1600

Book excerpt: Making Copies in European Art 1400-1600 comprises sixteen essays that explore the form and function, manner and meaning of copies after Renaissance works of art. The authors construe copying as a method of exchange based in the theory and practice of imitation, and they investigate the artistic techniques that enabled and facilitated the production of copies. They also ask what patrons and collectors wanted from a copy, which characteristics of an artwork were considered copyable, and where and how copies were stored, studied, displayed, and circulated. Making Copies in European Art, in addition to studying many unfamiliar pictures, incorporates previously unpublished documentary materials.