Artists in the Quattrocento were selected by the patrons, the artist would draw up a sketch and the two parties would sign a formal agreement, a legal contract. Contracts were a very important part of the paintings subject as they detailed the use of blue and gold leaf the artist could use. The frame was also considered in the overall cost as it would account for one fifth of the expenditure, and gold leafing tallied a third so there was certain constraints to the artwork. The rise of the bourgeoisie (Bankers, Merchants) to that of modern “Aristocracy” meant the figures of the paintings became more naturalistic. Even though contracts were drawn the way a patron paid for the work differed. The duke of Ferrara who commissioned the fresco’s in the Palazzo Schifanoia spent ten Bolognese lire per square foot which meant he would not get as much skill as the Florentine merchant Giovanni de’ Bardi who would pay for the materials and time. Painting reflects society, now the artist produces a painting and then finds a buyer, in the Quattrocento paintings were a way of serving God, repaying back to the city and a noticeable way of commemorating yourself.
Italy at the time was a mass of divided cities, lordships and towns therefore having a different variety in culture, dialects and even coinage but people would travel and diversities in traditions came into contact. The activities of artists were regulated by guilds; the importance of these guilds differed from town to town. In Florence guild membership was a condition of government office. Although outside of Florence the guilds were less prominent in political affairs. All contracts that were drawn up by the artist and agreed upon by the patron were not only copied and given to each party but were also stored in the public notary records.
I will be looking at other users of iconology in my dissertation in order to get a full understanding of the theory. Erwin Panofsky was an art historian who wrote about iconography, he broke it into three levels. The Primary; what the subject matter is, i.e. an image of the annunciation is a women and a figure with wings. The Secondary; looking at the image with what the viewer would bring, like western culture would allow you to read this image as an angel visiting Mary and being told she is to bear God’s child. Intrinsic meaning; takes into account the time it was painted in and how that effects the painting itself. Panofsky also looked at iconography in the Renaissance, and was the first to look at the symbolism in Jan Van Eycks ‘The Marriage of Arnolfini’. Art historian Aby Warburg was another developer of iconology; he founded a library dedicated to his research and methodology. Warburg came up with ‘Mnemosyn’, collecting images over a period of time that contain the same subject and seeing what differences or similarities there are and why. Warburg looked at the iconography of merchant and bankers in the Renaissance and their patronage.
My main interest in art history is looking deeper into the image and seeing why it was painted. For the breakdown of my dissertation I think I will approach it by looking at different paintings of this period and deconstructing the image. I will use Iconography to look for symbolism and see what the image is saying about the period of time. From my initial reading I would like to start off with researching Giotto and his introduction of humanism and classicism, then to investigate Pierro Della Francesca’s ‘Baptism’ and Fra Angelico’s ‘Deposition of Christ’. These paintings have a religious theme to them which I find interesting but also how these themes that were depicted over and over again have originality about them.
Bibliography
Hatt, Michael and Klonk, Charlotte, ‘Art History, A critical Introduction to its Methods’, Manchester University Press.
Baxendall, Michael, ‘Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy’, Oxford, 1972
Hauser, Arnold, ‘The Social History of Art’, London,1972
Plumb, J.H, ‘The Renaissance’, Collins, 1961
Gombrich, ‘The Story of Art’, Phaidon, 1995
