Art and Financial Markets in 19th Century Britain and France - A Century of Evidence on Cross-market Linkages

Publié le 24 février 2026 – Mis à jour le 24 février 2026

Séminaire présenté par Luisa Bicalho Ritzkat, PhD Candidate Economic History, London School of Economics

Bio

Luisa is a PhD Candidate at the London School of Economics in Economic History. Her research examines how information, institutions, and expertise shape the functioning of asset markets over time. In her dissertation, she looks at the emergence of the modern art market in 19th-century London.

Abstract

This paper asks whether the financial integration of the late nineteenth century extended beyond securities markets to encompass the art market. Using newly constructed art price indices for Britain and France, it examines whether art markets became increasingly linked to financial markets and to each other during the first era of globalization. I show that art–equity co-movement was highly time-varying and institutionally contingent. In early nineteenth-century Britain, art markets appear largely decoupled from equities, whereas in France—where art and financial trading were spatially and institutionally centralized—cross-market linkages are stronger. During financial crises, these relationships shift, indicating that art sometimes behaved as a luxury asset tied to financial wealth and at other times as a partially insulated store of value. Despite increasing financial globalization after 1880, art markets remained nationally segmented.

Date(s)

Le 19 mars 2026

12:30 - 14:00

Lieu(x)

Campus du Solbosch - ULB | Salle Henri Janne
Bâtiment S, 15è étage, S15.331
44 avenue Jeanne, 1050 Bruxelles