Venice in the Renaissance was not only one of the most populous cities in Europe, it was easily the most sophisticated, a hub of capitalism. The merchants of Venice were also pioneering collectors of art. Learn how many of the developments now considered essential to art collecting in the modern sense made their first appearance in sixteenth-century Venice, such as the invention of the oil-on-canvas easel painting, the beginnings of the secondary market, art connoisseurship as a specialized skill, and the illustrated collection catalogue.