Much like how early Christian art imitated Roman art before developing its own style, the earliest Renaissance art, financed by secular patronage, was largely sacred, but with the increased sources of patronage, from private families to governments, to other groups, art began to diversify beyond just sacred subjects and functions. By the end of the century, and “for the first time since antiquity, some art was being made simply ‘for art's sake’” (Patrons and Artists, n.d.).

Renaissance painters (and their patrons) loved to juxtaposition classical and sacred elements in Renaissance settings. Paintings such as Saint John the Baptist by Jacopo del Sellaio in 1493 shows John the Baptist walking around with Florence (where he was/is the patron