Baxandall - "Painting and Experience in 15th Century Italy"

Baxandall argues that 15th C. art is…

bespoke (tailored for a client)

to tailor a piece of work the client must use a…

legally binding contract

artworks of this era can be considered….

‘fossils of economic life’ - inform us on wealth and motivations of the client

what are the six motivations for patrons to commission a piece of art?

• piety

• possession

• civic consciousness

• self-commemoration/advertisement

• absolving sins of usury

• an aesthetic taste for good art

Baxandall argues that over the course of the C. there is a change in…

the status of the artist - craftsman → artist (admired for skill and creativity)

what year is the birth of the ‘modern artist’?

1490

what came before the Renaissance?

the proto-Renaissance e.g. Giotto

in what year and by who was classical learning introduced to schools?

1360 by Petrach and Bocaccio

what is ‘humanism’?

“the dignity of man through classical learning”, man should be more educated and autonomous

During the Renaissance we see “an…

ennobling of the individual”.