Authorship as a determinant of art prices and auction settings in eighteenth-century Paris.

This article examines the strategic use of authorship authentication and auction lot sequencing by eighteenth-century Parisian art dealer Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun to enhance product differentiation and maximize revenues in a rapidly expanding art market. Lebrun developed a hierarchical scale of authentication—ranging from fully guaranteed authorship ("Forename + Surname") to attribution qualifiers and anonymity—that significantly influenced buyers' willingness to pay, with securely attributed works fetching higher prices. Additionally, Lebrun reordered auction lots in leaflets called feuilles de vacation, placing autograph and highly reputed artists' works early in the sale to stimulate bidding, while less certain or lower-reputation works appeared later, demonstrating an early form of auction sequencing to optimize sales dynamics. The study provides quantitative evidence that the eighteenth-century Paris art market was increasingly driven by the quest for the artist's hand, prefiguring modern superstar economies in art, and highlights the evolving role of connoisseurship in addressing information asymmetries for diverse buyer profiles.