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What does Florentine painting of the 15th C tell us about the interests and attitudes of patrons? Please answer with reference to specific works and examples.


Commissions for art were organised very differently than is usual in the 21st Century. The Patron took a major role in the design and execution of the art and was considered the real initiator. Indeed
“15thC patrons were not passive connoisseurs: they were active consumers “
(Hollingsworth1994)

In the 15th C the patron was seen as the creator of the project and he would therefore want to control its final appearance. Patrons generally can be seen as either secular or religious and corporate or individual but the subject matter of the paintings and sculpture was overwhelmingly Christian. The commissioners were inevitably rich and powerful and their wealth and patronage was closely linked to the economic and political status of the city. The motives of the patrons can be organised – for convenience only – into the following areas: Civic Pride, Guild Prestige, Power and Propaganda, Piety and Pleasure, though clearly these categories overlap. Indeed the various guilds, religious fraternities and private patrons who were the main commissioners of works or art were all influenced by these motives to varying degrees.
Against a background of patriotism, pride and substantial money making Florence had decided to reinvent herself as the natural inheritor of ancient classical wisdom and the arts took their inspiration from classical form and texts. There was a new interest in all things ancient – Roman and Greek – and as Hollingsworth says
“ classical rhetoric provided a powerful new language for propaganda in the struggle against tyranny “ ( Hollingsworth 1994 )

In order to understand the importance of Civic Pride as a major influence on the choice and style of art it is important to understand the economic and political and...