ART
263 / MAN 263 The Business of Art
ART
263 / MAN 263 
What
will we learn???
The origin of the guild system can be traced back to the first century
A.D. in Germany. By the
eleventh century, barbarian migrations were ending, people were settling
into towns, and the
countries of Europe as we know them were being formed. At this time guilds
began to become
a strong economic force.
During the Middle Ages (c. 500 - 1400) and Renaissance
(c. 1400 - 1600) in Europe the
guild system was of prime importance not just for the education of artists,
but also for the
commissioning of works of art. During the late Middle Ages the guilds dominated
almost
every part of the commercial and political life of the European city.
Guilds were organizations of merchants and craftsmen. All self-employed
carpenters, for example,
in a town or region would comprise a guild. The guild drew up rules for
the profession, elected
officials, and had a treasury. Only members of the carpenters' guild could
practice carpentry.
Artists, during the European Middle Ages, were not considered to be
artists (as we think of them)
but craftsmen, and as such, were part of the guild system. Parents would
make a contract with a
guildsman to train a son in a profession (girls were excluded from the
guild system until the late
sixteenth century). The young boy, perhaps seven years of age, would become
an apprentice to
a painter or sculptor, and his parents would pay tuition to the master
painter or sculptor. After a
stipulated number of years of training (and usually when the man was in
his early twenties), the
apprentice would create his "masterpiece" and become a master,
himself. As his reputation grew,
he would contract a growing number of apprentices in his shop.
We will use Florence, Italy as an example of the guilds in action, because Florence was home to many of the greatest artists, and was a booming capital of art and commerce during the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Guilds regulated trade and industry, educated apprentices to provide them with a career, supported sick guildsmen and provided funerals for members. They were also strong political entities, and, at times, patrons of other guilds.
Florence had seven major guilds:
So where did artists fit into this system? Strangely enough, the painters
belonged to the
guild of physicians and pharmacists. Why? Perhaps because painters' pigments
were ground
in much the same way as materials for medicines were ground. Medicines
and pigments
were made primarily of organic materials - herbs, other plants, earth,
minerals. Also,
doctors and painters both had Saint Luke as their patron saint because
he was both an
artist and a physician. The painters joined the guild of the Medici
e Speziali in 1314, and
became an independent branch of the guild in 1378.
To which guild did the sculptors belong? The carvers belonged to the
Arte di Pietra e Legname
- the guild of the workers in stone and wood - along with carpenters. A
sculptor who worked
in bronze was a member of one of the major guilds, again strangely, the
Arte Della Seta (guild
of silk weavers).
Wool carders (ciompi) had no guild. They were considered too lowly.
In 1378 they revolted
and formed a guild of their own.
Gentlemen were involved with one of the seven liberal arts (grammar,
logic, music, rhetoric,
arithmetic, geometry or astronomy), guild members, on the other hand, were
classified as those
who worked with their hands. They were considered to be employed in the
mechanical arts.
During the Renaissance, artists such as Leonardo da Vinci in Italy, and
Albrecht Durer in
Germany tried to raise the status of the artist to that of one practicing
a liberal, rather than
mechanical art. By the late sixteenth century academies were formed to
train artists, and the
guild system began to die out.
A bottega was the
workshop of an artist. Entering the bottega
of a painter from the
street we would see young apprentices grinding pigments, older apprentices
painting
on works commissioned to the master of the shop. Paid assistants might
be working,
also, on large commissions. Perhaps as many as thirty apprentices and assistants
would
assist the master painter. The master would accept commissions for paintings
- and other
items, including the design of jewelry, festival banners, and vestments
for clergymen.
Artists at that time did not create art for the open market, but worked
on commissions.
For example, if a patron desired an altarpiece for a chapel that his family
sponsored in a
church, he would visit the painter at his bottega, discuss the project
and price. A contract
would be drawn up stipulating a completion date, payment schedule, and
any other necessary
legalities. At the time of the contract, a down payment would usually be
made to the artist.
Upon presentation and acceptance of the design of a cartoon (full-sized
preliminary drawing)
a second payment might be made, with the balance being paid upon completion
and installation.
An artist needed to be a good business manager to keep lucrative commissions
coming in, and
the salaries of his assistants paid.
Apprentices learned the master's style. Since artworks were collaborative
ventures, between
masters and apprentices, it was necessary for the apprentice to not be
very original, but to be
able to mimic the master's style for the sake of unity. After an apprentice
became a master himself,
then he could develop his own, individual style, and take on apprentices
of his own. (Still the
similarity of style is often quite obvious, for instance Fra Filippo Lippi
trained Botticelli, and Botticelli, in turn trained Filippino Lippi. The
three artists' styles are very similar. As is the style of Perugino and
the youthful works of his student, Raphael.)
Many commissions at this time were by the church or by wealthy individuals
decorating churches
or their own palaces or villas. Most of the subject matter of art was religious.
Now......Click
Donatello's Picture
to learn more about one of
Florence's favorite
sons!!!
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