The Culture of Renaissance Artistic Patronage in Northern Italy
Open Access
- Author:
- Kruse, Nicole
- Area of Honors:
- History
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Michele Rossi, Thesis Supervisor
Cathleen Denise Cahill, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- renaissance
art history
Italy
italian
italian art history
renaissance art history
patronage
northern italy
mantua
milan
florence
patronage culture - Abstract:
- The Renaissance is considered a segue from ancient times into the modern world. Renaissance, literally meaning rebirth, brought about copious innovations critical to the creation of modern Western civilization as we know it. The feudalistic and religiously affiliated power dynamics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries resulted in a residual breakdown, allowing for the rise of prominent Italian city-states, such as Milan, Florence, and Mantua, that competed for control of the Italian peninsula until the Italian unification of 1861. Further, with the emergence of the Renaissance came the reintroduction of Classical ideals into European society, including humanism, which ultimately shifted the focus of art from being entirely focused on religious ideals to including secular subjects. After centuries of primarily Church patronage, the upper classes of society pursued artistic patronage. The elite echelons of the Italian Renaissance began to utilize art to control their self-image and ultimately gain further power. These relationships between patrons and their artists were quite complicated, as for the first time in history, artists became individually renowned, and their artistry and skill were celebrated. As artists gained credibility in regard to their skills, it changed the relationships between patrons and artists as for the first time, artists were no longer indebted and the benefactor-esque patron. Instead, artists and patrons worked together to produce works in a consumerist, symbiotic relationship.