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Kwame Nana-Atoo

Patrons were people who were given commissions.  They were the people who gave looked for which artist to give the work to. Among this group were private and corporate patrons. The private patrons were rich aristocrats, kings and people who governed in high place, merchants and in very rare cases artists themselves. The corporate patrons involved unions of brotherhoods, city governments and religious orders. Status was very important during this era and people who were involved in art projects being it the commissioner, patron or agent automatically increased in status and prestige. The patrons could come from the same family commissioning the art, or they could come from other high governing institution.

 From the observations of Gilbert and Charles Hope, I agree that it is very difficult to give an artist a commission and then influence their creative practice to a very large extent.  In the commissioning game, I think it depends greatly on the "brief" presented to the artist. Sometimes the patrons have specific details and knowledge on what they want in the project- sometimes these projects if they are religiously inclined, might have come about through dreams and visions, and so when the commission is proposed, there is an exactness to what they want and they just look for an agent to produce it. Other times, they commissioner and patron may have no idea about their proposal and the information provided on their briefs might be very minimal that they need an artistic guide. This is when the artist comes in and offers his ideas on it. When the artist presents his ideas, the patron and the artist can then begin to work together to both agree on a similar model.

 In the renaissance era, prestige and high status led to many advantages and interestingly it was through commissioning of artworks, and how well it was done. Obviously since the patrons needed that high status of recognition, they looked for the best artist, the ones that had made name but certainly did charge a lot. Looking at the hierarchy of the renaissance, it is evident that patrons will do everything to get the commission while the artist, doing his best to get into good schools with high reputation so as to gain and win commission.- in this case the main incentives for patron getting the commission is for a prestigious status in his community through which, if gained, he can mobilize the people in the community and gain favor to rise to a higher position and for the artist, a way of putting his skills out there to get more works which in turn will fill his pockets.

 When it comes to the audience, I was very surprised to learn that they targeted heaven, as in they did it for God to see and appreciate their love for Him through iconography and images. I really don't see the correlation as, the bible forbids worshiping through images and iconographies. For me the audience is the second group that the article tells us people but to me, more importantly is the people who come to church. If the audience is for the members of the elite, what good did it do to them but to enhance their already elite status. However, the people that I think mostly deserve to be the targets are the ordinary people, the people who are seeking to know God. Through the images, it tells them stories of biblical experiences as well as individual miracles people have encountered. When they see this they will get inspired to find out more about their spiritual journey to Christ.

 In order to be distinguished, the patrons had to self-fashion themselves. They did that through signaling, signposting and stretching . Signaling is the process of conveying information about ones self to other people in order to attain satisfaction and honor from a group of people. I think what led to signaling itself is that the society at the point in time did not depend only on money to commission a work, but also status. In gaining statuses, patrons did that through signaling. While signaling, they targeted the audience who were, I believe, of very elite positions probably people who gave out the commissions so that they the patrons would easily be favored when giving out commissions. The Italian renaissance patrons found it best to signal the family name and heighten funeral ceremonies as well as build magnificent tombs, to keep the extravagance in the minds of the public.

 Some patrons, to enhance their status in a community, stretched their accomplishments and achievements.  There were dire consequences when they were found to be unjust such as huge fees and loss of virtue.  An example is the story of Francesco Gonzaga who commissioned works of art in various medium to depict scenes of victory over France, even though it did happen as he had showed them.

In sign-posting, patrons exalted themselves by including only accomplished and achieved memoires in their history while omitting the negative aspect of their lifestyle. This action of conviction, made them look like the perfect pick for commissions. Also one way of executing this act was to exclude how the patrons made money and this was very frequent when the audiences were members of a noble congregation.

 Magnificence became a very prominent way of leaving a mark and establishing your elite status in public. It was mainly expressed through enormous buildings, which not benefited the owners but also the general public, that way they will always be remembered after they die. Such was the case of Filippo Strozzi. The readings state that we should not be quick to declare that the use of magnificence was only for selfish needs just to be exalted, but in doing so, something which was common in other cities, they also beautified the place. i think that the main purpose was for selfish and greedy expositions and that the beautification and others were just after thoughts and effect that came about. This can guide us to the reason why they spent so much money in building tombs, it was to keep their name going even after they die. An interesting observation from the reading is that even with building of magnificent house, they just cant be built because the patron had money, but they should be built according to the accomplishments of the patron.

 A patron becomes distinguished through what he has achieved through commissions made, the magnificence of the expressed signaling and how long he has had positive influence in the community. It was only through these very highly proclaimed entities that distinguished a prominent patron for his counterparts.