Page History

Tadd Phillips

1. There were two groups of patrons: corporate patrons and private patrons. Corporate patrons included city governments, religious orders and brotherhoods. Private patrons were wealthy individuals and families. The two types were not entirely separate, however. Individuals often represented groups in commissioning artwork. Although they had considerable latitude in their instructions to artists, they still reflected the desires of their group. As the text says, "a private chapel in a church ordered by a single merchant still reveals the 'social identity' of a group."

The text mainly discusses private patrons in Renaissance Italy. They were the elite, whose social status was bestowed upon them by other elites. Therefore, they were simultaneously both patrons and audiences. Patrons were critical in the commissioning game; without them, there would be no commissions. Not only did they commission artwork themselves, but they showed it off to other patrons, often leading to future commissions for the artist.

2. For the patrons, the costs of the commissioning game were relatively small. The text gives an example of one set of courts that spent only 0.4% of their expenditures on artwork. The benefits were gaining and maintaining social status, as discussed below in #3. For the artists, the stakes depended on whether their patrons and audiences were satisfied with what they produced. If a patron and his audience approved of an artist's work, the artist would enjoy future commissions and financial success. If they did not approve, the artist's reputation might be tarnished. Such was the case with Rosso Fiorentino. His patrons in Florence were dissatisfied with him and he had to leave the city to find work.

3. The wealthy in Renaissance Italy had some degree of social mobility. The text states that "Florence, in particular, had a loosely defined standard of elite status." Those seeking to move up in status by signaling their magnificence could do so by commissioning works of art. But the elite were also in danger of moving down; those who did not consistently commission works of art ran the risk of losing the respect of their peers.

4. Paintings: Paintings were specialized to highlight the characteristics of a given patron or family, to the point where a painting produced for one patron could not be sold to another if the original patron rejected it. Patrons often had specifications for the content and style of paintings and carried out research on artists to find the one most able to produce the painting they wanted.

Buildings: Patrons often took a hands-on approach in the planning of buildings they commissioned. For example, when Michelangelo was planning the Laurentinian Library, his patron, Pope Clement VII, discussed with him details such as the lighting and the number of books that could fit on a desk.

Events: Patrons also paid large amounts of money for events such as banquets and funerals. For example, the Medici family spent 3000 florins, the amount a laborer would earn if he worked for 96 years, on the funeral of Giovanni de Medici.

5. To signal something is to display evidence of it to your audience. The elite of Renaissance Italy wanted to signal social status, wealth, and devotion to God, and they commissioned artwork to do so. For example, Isabella d'Este ordered cloth for her mantle that was "without a rival in the world" to show that she could afford the best.

Stretching means taking something true and exaggerating it. For example, Francesco Gonzaga's men once fought a battle against the French with mixed results at best, as the text puts it. A painting he commissioned to celebrate the battle, Madonna of Victory by Andrea Mantegna, stretched the positive aspects of the battle to the extent that it appeared Gonzaga had won.

Signposting means drawing attention to part of the truth and minimizing other aspects of it. Madonna of Victory again serves as an example. Mantegna did not just stretch the positive aspects of the battle to make it appear as if the Italians had won; he ignored the negative ones as well.

6. There were several components of the audiences. First, there were contemporary viewers. Most of them had little influence, but the elite few were the real targets. Second, there were future viewers. According to Giovanni Pontano, patrons wanted "to realize the long lasting of their name and reputation, for which man's desire is infinite." Third, patrons wanted God to see their work. They hoped that by glorifying God through art, they would ensure their passage to Heaven and spend less time in purgatory.

Different avenues of conspicuous consumption, as discussed in #4, were directed at different audiences. While paintings, sculptures, and buildings could last for centuries, events such as extravagant banquets would mostly only affect contemporaries' opinions. Thus, such events were used mainly to increase or maintain social status, while paintings and architecture also contributed to long-lasting glory and the respect of future audiences.

7. A distinguished person had to signal his magnificence in multiple ways. He had to commission paintings, sculptures, buildings, and other artwork frequently in order to demonstrate that he could afford to do so and that he had the taste to procure high-quality art. He also had to host lavish events such as the 3000-florin funeral of Giovanni de Medici.