Patronage in Renaissance Italy – Mary Hollingsworth Betaalbaar

In this first comprehensive study of patrons in the Italian quattrocento, Mary Hollingsworth shows how the patron–rather than the artist–carefully controlled both subject and medium in artistic creation. In a competitive and violent age, she explains, image and ostentation were essential statements of the patron’s power. As a result, perceived cost became more important than artistic quality (and buildings, bronze, or tapestry were considered more eloquent statements than cheaper marble or fresco). Artist…