The Printing Press In The Late Nineteenth Century

During this time, the number of artists must have increased incredibly as demand increased. There must have been a new market for less-expensive pieces like portraits and landscapes. This would open the door to lesser artists who would work for less money and create art on a much less grandiose scale. Of course, many lesser works have been lost since they were not worthy of preservation in a museum.

The invention of the printing press in the late fifteenth century made reproducible art possible. An artist could now easily make multiple copies of an engraving and sell copies to multiple buyers at a much lower cost. Engravings by Mantegna and Albrecht Durer became very popular at that time.

The Protestant Reformation