Social Network Centralization Dynamics in Print Production in the Low Countries, 1550-1750
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Abstract
The development of a professionalized, highly centralized printmaking industry in northern Europe during the mid-sixteenth century has been argued to be the inevitable result of prints' efficacy at reproducing images, and thus encouraging mass production. However, it is unclear whether such a centralized structure was truly inevitable, and if it persisted through the seventeenth century. This paper uses network analysis to infer these historical print production networks from two large databases of existing prints in order to characterize whether and how centralization of printmaking networks changed over the course of this period, and how these changes may have influenced individual printmakers.
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Supplementary Content
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"The Invention of Copperplate Engraving", in "New Inventions of Modern Times [Nova reperta]"
DescriptionJan Collaert I after Jan van der Straet, "The Invention of Copperplate Engraving", in "New Inventions of Modern Times [Nova reperta]", published by Philips Galle, c. 1600. Engraving, 27 x 20 cm. the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949. www.metmuseum.org.Creator (or owner) of fileThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Figure 02
DescriptionNetwork centralization examples. (a) is a highly-centralized "star" graph, where one actor receives all the connections. (b) is a relatively centralized graph, where a few nodes receive most of the connections. (c) is a decentralized graph, where most nodes have the same number of connections.Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Figure 03
DescriptionVisualizing the method for creating timeslices of the historical print production network. Each node in the graph is an artist, engraver, or publisher, and links are formed when two artists both worked on the same print.Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Figure 04
DescriptionVisualizations of the core components of two Dutch network time slices.Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Figure 05
DescriptionComparison of the changing centralization of the Dutch and Flemish print production network between 1550--1750 with the changing number of actors and the changing number of edges connecting them over the same period. Results from both the BM and RKM datasets are juxtaposed.Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Figure 06
DescriptionA visualization of random graph generation. (a) is the network generated from the BM data between 1640--1650. (b-f) are five randomly generated networks with the same number of nodes and edges as (a).Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Figure 07
DescriptionComparing observed centralization results with centralization returned by random graph sampling.Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Figure 08
DescriptionThe top most central members of the Dutch printmaking network in the years 1560, 1585, 1615, 1645, 1675, and 1715, ranked by their degree centrality, with some notable examples highlighted. (BM Dataset)Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Figure 09
DescriptionThe top ten most central members of the Flemish printmaking network in the years 1560, 1585, 1615, 1645, 1675, and 1715, raked by their degree centrality. Members of family dynasties are highlighted. (BM dataset).Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
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Supplementary methodology details
DescriptionA detailed discussion of the handling of actor roles, network weighting, and direction.Creator (or owner) of fileMatthew Lincoln
