One of the most important relationship an artist can have is with a patron of some kind. Though the nature of patron/artist relationships have changed over the centuries, it still is an important one.
During the Renaissance, art depended solely on patrons to be made. Those patrons could be a person, the church, or a guild or organization. These patrons would commission a workshop to produce a piece of art. In Florence many pieces during the Quatroncento (14th century) were commissioned by the Medici family.
Under the control of Cosimo de’ Medici, his family rose to power and used it’s vast wealth to commission what are now some of the most famous pieces of art, and forever changed the face of Florence.
This relationship allowed many workshops and artists in them to produce vast amounts of art. By also having a “forward” thinking patron allowed many of these artists and artisans to push the boundaries of art beyond what had been socially acceptable during previous times.
This part of the relationship is crucial. Because art for this particular patron started to become a symbol of wealth and status, as well as taste, Cosimo de’Medici pushed the workshops and their masters to produce art no one else had.
In some ways this relationship still holds true today. For many up-and-coming artists, having a patron with financial means can make a huge difference, if they are willing to take a chance on them.
Though there are still private commissions to this day, patronage now takes form more in either the willing to represent an artist (such as a gallery), or someone willing to subsidize a gallery show for a certain artist, furthering their exposure.
Today the word patron is mostly reserved for those donating money or art to institutional art galleries (such as the Guggenheim foundation). The term “collector” is more often used for those who purchase art. However I would argue that the function of a collector and a patron of the Quatrocento are not that different.
Perhaps more that in any other time since the Renaissance this relationship is returning. If one was to look at the rise in fame and popularity of Andy Warhol, we could see how rich, and famous patrons gave rise to the popularity and value of his art. Warhol became a very wealthy artist during his lifetime. Many celebrities and rich socialites got him to paint portraits of them, many of which have become famous, and very valuable. These famous patrons and hangers on gave the Warhol name so much cachet that he was able to then make reproductions of his work that the masses wanted to buy.
This is not so different to the patronage of Florence workshops by the de’Medici’s. Their patronage of certain workshops gave not only work, but cachet to those workshops. To play “keep up with the de’Medici’s”, people would then flock to those approved “workshops” and order their own art, perhaps done by assistant at a lower cost, but it would still be a “Brunelleschi”. In modern times people would by a silkscreen made in Warhol’s factory, but they could still call it a “Warhol”.
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