Brief aan Ary Johannes Lamme Possibly 1862 - 1866

This is a letter written by the German artist Rudolf Jordan to Ary Johannes Lamme, though the date is not visible. Written in German, it is a plea for Lamme to help sell Jordan's unsold painting in Holland. The letter offers a glimpse into the 19th-century art market, in which artists often relied on personal connections to navigate the art world. Jordan reveals that he hopes to find a buyer in Holland, possibly reflecting a different taste or economic opportunity in the Dutch market, or perhaps the institutional development of the art market in Germany was not yet as strong. He mentions that Lamme might have seen a photograph of the artwork in his studio, which shows the increasing role that photography played in the dissemination of art at this time. Art historians can use letters like this, alongside other archival documents, to reconstruct the economic and social networks that shaped artistic production and circulation in 19th-century Europe. They remind us that art's meaning is always contingent on its historical and institutional context.