Patronization of Renaissance Art Takes Many Forms

The renaissance granted the world a new outlook on what art consists of. In the past, only such organizations of power such as the church or the wealthiest of kings could afford to pay for the artists, labor, and materials necessary to create significant pieces of art. What the Renaissance brought to the world was a new take on art. While the church still held influence across Europe, wealthy merchant families, such as the Medicis, were able to commission some of the worlds best artists to create sculptures, paintings, and other works of art that were not necessarily confined to religious inspiration. We see artists such as Bernini who was solely contracted by the church to perform

               We see some of these fantastic artists such as Michelangelo creating masterpieces such as “The Creation” which was obviously contracted by the church. However, during this time we begin to see paintings such as “The Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci that redefined how we see art. Da Vinci also stretched his limits by trying new inventions, performing anatomical surgeries on corpses to better understand how the body works, and other such activities that were not commissioned or even approved of by the church. I believe religious art is a beautiful thing, however, I am impressed with how the works of art during the renaissance were able to take on a wider scope than simply worship. This form of art was quite rare in the centuries preceding the renaissance because few patrons could afford the economical and political costs of funding masterpieces not affiliated with the church.