Unlike Holman Hunt's bitter attack on the new art scene cited at the end of the preceding chapter, the painter Henry Stacy Marks (1829–98), in his typically humorous fashion, looked back and eulogized the heady days of the ‘Golden Age of Living Painters’. Indeed, an era had passed which had taken the production of painting to an unprecedented level. The confluence of the diverse interests of which the arts environment is composed and which lies at the root of the mid-Victorian boom was inherently unstable. This coming of age of the market for contemporary paintings brought artists, dealers, press and consumers together for a several-decade long celebration of art production and consumption. When the party was over, the guests left alone or in groups, but much richer for the experience. The now mature market continued to adapt, applying and refining the lessons of its youth. As it continued to expand with all its components now firmly in place, the exchange mechanism for art became more complex and diverse.