Abstract
The Renaissance was a period of dramatic upheaval: changes to the political, religious, economic, social and cultural structures in Europe marked the end of traditional medieval certainties and the beginning of the modern world. And the period is justly famous for its art. The new order was given visual expression in radical stylistic change that saw the revival of the artistic language of ancient Rome to provide the basis for the emergence of new styles in painting, sculpture and architecture. But the process by which these innovations were created and transferred is not as straightforward as is usually thought. The Renaissance is rich in myths, and perhaps none is more compelling than the idea that artists in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy were free to explore their own ideas and create their masterpieces for enlightened patrons. This myth is reinforced by the methodology of many art historians who study the Renaissance via its artists, an approach that disguises the fact that it was the patron who was the real initiator of the art of the period, and that he played a significant role in determining the final appearance of his commissions.1
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Reference
The role of the patron in Renaissance art forms the basis of my two books: Patronage in Renaissance Italy: from 1400 to the Early Sixteenth Century,London 1994 (hereinafter Hollingsworth 1994) and Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Italy,London 1996.
R.Gaston, ‘Liturgy and Patronage in San Lorenzo, Florence, 1350–1650’, in F.W.Kent P.Simons (eds.), Patronage, Art and Society in Renaissance Italy, Oxford 1987, 122.
On comparative costs, see Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 4, 20–1, 28–9, 34, 38.
C.W.Westfall, In This Most Perfect Paradise,University Park PA London 1974, 33.
Howard Burns, Andrea Palladio 1508–1580,London 1975, 113.
The following discussion is based on my article, `The Architect in Fifteenth-Century Florence’, Art History, 7 (1984), 385–410 (hereinafter Hollingsworth 1984 ).
For a basic outline, and further bibliography, see Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 11–16.
Margaret Haines, `Brunelleschi and Bureaucracy: The Tradition of Public Patronage at the Florentine Cathedral’, I Tatti Studies,3 (1989), 92–3; for further bibliography, see Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 29–32.
The impact of these meetings on the cupola design are discussed in Howard Saalman, `Santa Maria del Fiore: 1294–1418’, Art Bulletin, 46 (1964), 471–500.
For a contemporary account of the building of the dome, see Antonio di Tuccio Manetti, The Life of Brunelleschi,H. Saalman (ed.), University Park PA London 1970, 62–94; see also Howard Saalman, `Giovanni di Gherardo da Prato’s Designs Concerning the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians,18 (1959), 11–20.
Hollingsworth 1984, op.cit., 399–401.
Haines, op.cit., 123; see also Hollingsworth 1994, 31.
On Florentine palaces, see R.Goldthwaite, `The Florentine Palace as Domestic Architecture’, American Historical Review,77 (1972), 977–1012; R. Goldthwaite, The Building of Renaissance Florence,Baltimore MD London 1980; F.W.Kent, ‘Palaces, Politics and Society in Fifteenth-Century Florence’, I Tatti Studies,2 (1987), 41–70; see also Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 36–7, 57–9 for further bibliography.
On Strozzi and his palace, see R.Goldthwaite, ‘The Building of the Strozzi Palace: the Construction Industry in Renaissance Florence’, Studies in Medieval Renaissance History,10 (1973), 99–194 (hereinafter Goldthwaite 1973); see also Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 59, 62–3.
On Rucellai and his palace, see F.W.Kent, ‘The Making of a Renaissance Patron of the Arts’, in Giovanni Rucellai ed il suo Zibaldone,(Studies of the Warburg Institute 24), London 1981, vol.2, 9–95; see also Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 60–3.
Giovanni Rucellai ed il suo Zibaldone (Studies of the Warburg Institute), London 1981, vol.1, 120–1.
Goldthwaite 1973, op.cit., 123–35 passim; Hollingsworth 1984, op.cit., 387–90.
The literature on Lorenzo is immense; see, for example, the contributions to G.C.Garfagnini (ed.), Lorenzo il Magnifico e il suo mondo (Convegno internazionale di studi, Florence 1992), Florence 1994; see also Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., Ch.5, for further bibliography.
The inventory is published in E.Müntz, Les Collections des Medicis au XVe siècle,Paris 1888.
Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 72–3.
On Lorenzo’s architectural expertise, see E.Gombrich, `The Early Medici as Patrons of Art’, reprinted in E.Gombrich, Norm and Form, London 1971, 54; Mario Martelli, `I pensieri architettonici del Magnifico’, Commentarii, 17 (1966), 107–11; F.W.Kent, `Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Acquisition of Poggio a Caiano in 1474 and an Early Reference to his Architectural Expertise’, Journal of the Warburg Courtauld Institutes, 42 (1979), 250–7; Hollingsworth 1984, op.cit., 402–4; B.L.Brown, `An Enthusiastic Amateur: Lorenzo de’ Medici as Architect’, Renaissance Quarterly, 46 (1993), 1–22.
For an outline of Venetian history, society and government, see Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 97–104, with bibliography.
On the Venetian government as patrons, see Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 105–19.
Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 110–12.
For the contract, see D.Chambers, Patrons and Artists in the Italian Renaissance,London 1970, 66–9
Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 112–15.
D.Howard, The Architectural History of Venice,London 1980, 104–6.
For a contemporary account of the discussion, see J.J.Norwich (ed.), Venice: A Traveller’s Companion,London 1990, 79–81; see also Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 117–19.
A.M.Schulz, Antonio Rizzo, Sculptor and Architect,Princeton NJ 1983, 128–35.
On Venetian palaces, see Howard, op.cit., 85–97; Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 148–52.
Howard, op.cit., 92–4; Hollingsworth 1994, op.cit., 149–50.
J.B.Onians, Bearers of Meaning,Princeton NJ 1988, 128.
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Hollingsworth, M. (1998). Patronage and Innovation in Architecture. In: Navaretti, G.B., Dasgupta, P., Mäler, KG., Siniscalco, D. (eds) Creation and Transfer of Knowledge. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03738-6_2
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