Renaissance and Patronage

A Cultural Introduction to Renaissance Rome is chalked full of information. It is difficult to synthesize but particular moments during my reading captured my interest. I always enjoy learning about the ways the city of Rome incorporated many artisans during its construction specifically during the Renaissance. “The urgent image of rebirth that underpins the very idea of the Renaissance (not to mention the term itself) was forged, not in Florence, but in Rome –and when that rebirth was conceived, its audacity was staggering. In the minds of those brave reconstructionists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, just as God’s sovereign plan for human salvation had been played out over the Roman cityscape…” (pg 4). The city and its papacy called upon artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael to complete many architectural designs. Rome becomes reborn with the idea of returning to Edenic lushness and magical power – “Rome’s destiny in the course of history” (pg 11). Rome serves as the birth place of the Renaissance because it fostered the intellectuals and incorporated them into the resurrection of a powerful city – it provided the means for ideas to emerge and be shared upon a common property.

Investigating this further with the Patronage and Popes: Saints or Sinners? The pope is the advocate and patron for the arts, initiatinf the building projects. The papacy was international which contributed to the worldly intellect however this ran into competitions from competing Italian and European city-states, and “the papacy became and ever less important player on the European Stage” (pg 13) and ultimately corrupt. In thinking of the pope’s patronage and their treatment of the Renaissance, it is an unbelievable accomplishment; however in action, they seem very far from saint-like and were often overthrown by the people.