O patronage it is originally a practice of stimulating cultural and artistic production, which consists of financing artists and their works. In addition, artists began to live exclusively from this incentive, gaining political protection and social prestige.
The word derives from Caius Maecenas, Roman politician, minister and adviser to Emperor Otávio Augustus. Maecenas was a member of the knight class and a wealthy Roman citizen who was commissioned by the emperor to finance production artistic and literary of several prominent names in Roman culture, such as the poets Virgil, Horace and Ovid, as well as the historian Titus Livio.
During the period of actions to encourage cultural production by Maecenas and Otávio Augusto, known as the “Século de Augusto”, Rome underwent important changes in its urban setting. Temples, theaters, amphitheaters and sculptures were built in the capital of the Roman Empire. Otávio would have said the following sentence about these changes: “I am proud of having found a city of bricks and having left a city of marble”.
The practice of encouraging cultural production and materially supporting artists so that they could dedicate themselves exclusively to the development of their abilities began to decline with the Middle Ages. However, during the cultural renaissance and with the enrichment of a portion of the merchants who inhabited cities on the Italian Peninsula during this period, the practice of patronage was revived.
Artists such as Leonardo Da Vince, Sandro Boticelli, Michelangelo Buonarotti, Rafael Sanzio, among others, were financed by Renaissance patrons. These were men enriched by commercial or banking activities and, among them, they stood out Lorenzo de' Medici, Cosimo de' Medici, Galeazzo Maria Sforza (Duke of Milan) and even Francis I, King of France. The Catholic Church also acted as an important patron in the period, financing, for example, Michelangelo for the creation of the Sistine Chapel frescoes.
Statue of Cosimo de' Medici, one of the great patrons of the Renaissance
In addition to encouraging cultural production, patronage also has the objective of giving political projection to those who allocate financial resources for cultural production. Political and economic power would be worked in conjunction with cultural encouragement, giving projection social support to the patron, which also guaranteed that his name was linked for a long time to the beautiful works of art. produced.
From the 19th century onwards, with the great fortunes provided by industrial and financial capitalism, once again patronage began to be carried out with greater intensity by the big bourgeoisie. Names like Guggenheim, Whitney, Rockefeller and Ford invested fortunes in cultural encouragement in the United States, creating foundations that exist to this day.
By Tales Pinto
Master in History