How Did Patronage Use Patronage During The Renaissance

There was no better time to be an artist than during the Renaissance in Europe. The Renaissance was a period of time that followed the Medieval Ages and saw art flourishing and modern science beginning to develop. The Renaissance, however, wouldn’t have been as revolutionary as it was without the help of patronage. Patronage was the fuel behind the Renaissance as it made it possible for artists to make the beautiful works of art that they did. It was a system in which rich people would hire artists in their area to create works of art, such as paintings or buildings, and then the works of art would be gifted to other people, churches, etc. in the name of the patron. The Renaissance began to develop in the late 14th century and reached its peak

It killed mostly middle aged people, having a major effect on the artists at the time. Many of the artists lost their lives to the black plague, and those who survived had a hard time getting back on their feet. Patronage began peeking at this time because the artists needed those in their community who still had money to fund their art. One example of this is Andrea Pisano, a 14th century Italian sculptor and architect, who designed the south doors of the Florence Baptistery, a religious building in Florence, Italy. He was hired by members of Florence’s guild of wool importers and personally designed 28 bronze panels for the doors, where the panels at the bottom represent Christianity and the panels at the top detail the life of John the Baptist, the person who the baptistery was dedicated to. With the system of patronage just becoming widespread, most of the projects that the artists were commissioned for had to do with religious themes or were going to religious locations, such as the Florence Baptistery. Without having been hired by the members of Florence’s guild of wool import members, Pisano and other artists at the time wouldn’t have had the opportunity to create such beautiful works of art and be as well known as they are today, all thanks to system of

Michelangelo, who was an Italian painter, architect, and sculptor, who is considered to be one of the best artists from the Italian Renaissance. Many of his works were created through patronage, but specifically two of his statues titled David and Pieta. Pieta is a 6 feet wide and nearly 6 feet tall sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus, who is dead in her lap. The sculpture took over a year to make and was also commissioned through patronage by Jean de Bilhéres Lagraulas. David on the other hand was commissioned by the Florence Cathedral building committee and took around 3 years to make. It is 14 feet tall and depicts a nude David standing on a stone. The task of creating such a masterpiece was originally commissioned to other artists who abandoned it because of how difficult it was to get all the small details. Michelangelo was eventually chosen to replace them and took over the project from where they had left off. Anyone who takes a look at the two statues can see the massive improvement of creating human figures over time. As scientists were discovering more and more about the human body, since science was also a component of the Renaissance, patronage artists were able to create more accurate and detailed depictions with that new information. The artists would then be celebrated for the impeccable work, especially when making statues where every detail is