Renaissance Patronage Study

Renaissance Patronage: A Study of Motivations in Artwork Commissioning
Gombrich says in his famous book The Story of Art that art is not a work of artists but that of patrons. This statement emphasizes the significant role that patrons played in the fifteen- century arts. Patronage was not simply the case of the patrons’ paying on their orders. The commercial relationship between artists and their clients in Renaissance was different from that in contemporary art market, where artists paint whatever they want and look for the buyers who like them. Painting during that period was a co-operation between the artists and their patrons. [2] Patrons had to select artists and discussed their specifications. After the sketched plans for the project are agreed by both sides, the artists and their clients sign a legal contract, which includes the expected details of the work commissioned, for example, its content and style, materials to be used, the date to finish and …show more content…
The contract functions as record for the measurable obligations to ensure interests of both artists and patrons. Therefore, although the workmanship of artists was highly valued, the characteristics of artworks are not driven by the creativity of the author but the expectations of their patrons. In the forms of paintings, sculptures and specified designed buildings, Renaissances art commissions were mostly designed to convey certain information to the viewers. Other than aesthetic impulses, motivations of patronage are mixed and different in each case. In this essay, we will focus three of the main purposes in art patronage-- for education purpose in sacred places as churches, for individual