506 Chapter 19 ITALY,1200 TO 1400T
he structured organization of economic activity during the
14th century, when Italy had established a thriving interna-
tional trade and held a commanding position in the Mediterranean
world, extended to many trades and professions.Guilds(associa-
tions of master craftspeople, apprentices, and tradespeople), which
had emerged during the 12th century, became prominent. These as-
sociations not only protected members’ common economic interests
against external pressures, such as taxation, but also provided them
with the means to regulate their internal operations (for example,
work quality and membership training).
Because of today’s international open art market, the notion of
an “artists’ union” may seem strange. The general public tends to see
art as the creative expression of an individual artist. However, artists
did not always enjoy this degree of freedom. Historically, artists
rarely undertook major artworks without a patron’s concrete com-
mission. The patron could be a civic group, religious entity, private
individual, or even the artists’ guild itself. Guilds, although primarily
economic commercial organizations, contributed to their city’s reli-
gious and artistic life by subsidizing the building and decoration of
numerous churches and hospitals. For example, the Arte della Lana
(wool manufacturers’ guild) oversaw the start of Florence Cathedral
(FIGS. 19-18and 19-19) in 1296, and the Arte di Calimala (wool mer-
chants’ guild) supervised the completion of its dome.
Monastic orders, confraternities, and the popes were also major
art patrons. In addition, wealthy families and individuals commis-
sioned artworks for a variety of reasons. Besides the aesthetic plea-
sure these patrons derived from art, the images often served as testa-
ments to the patron’s wealth, status, power, and knowledge. Because
artworks during this period were the product of what was, in effect,
a service contract, a patron’s needs or wishes played a crucial role in
the final form of any painting, sculpture, or building. Some con-
tracts between patrons and artists are preserved in European munic-
ipal and church archives. The patrons normally asked artists to sub-
mit drawings or models for approval, and they expected the artists
they hired to adhere to the approved designs fairly closely. These
contracts usually stipulated certain conditions, such as the insistence
on the artist’s own hand in the production of the work, the quality of
pigment and amount of gold or other precious items to be used,
completion date, payment terms, and penalties for failure to meet
the contract’s terms.
A few extant 13th- and 14th-century painting contracts are es-
pecially illuminating. Although they may specify the subject to be
represented, the focus of these binding legal documents is always the
financial aspects of the commission and the responsibilities of the
painter to the patron (and vice versa). In a contract dated Novem-
ber 1, 1301, between Cimabue and another artist and the Hospital
of Santa Chiara in Pisa, the artists agree to supply an altarpiece
with colonnettes, tabernacles, and predella, painted with histories
of the divine majesty of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the apostles, ofthe angels, and with other figures and pictures, as shall be seen fit
and shall please the said master of or other legitimate persons for
the hospital.*
Other contract terms specify the size of the panel and require that
gold and silver gilding be used for parts of the altarpiece.
The contract for the construction of an altarpiece was usually a
separate document, for that required the services of a master car-
penter. For example, Duccio’s April 15, 1285, contract with the rec-
tors of the Confraternity of the Laudesi, the lay group associated
with the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella (FIG. 19-6) in
Florence, specifies only that he is to provide the painting, not its
frame—and it imposes conditions that he must meet if he is to be
paid.
[The rectors] promise ...to pay the same Duccio... as the payment
and price of the painting of the said panel that is to be painted and
done by him in the way described below... 150 lire of the small
florins....[Duccio,in turn,promises] to paint and embellish the
panel with the image of the blessed Virgin Mary and of her omni-
potent Son and other figures, according to the wishes and pleasure
of the lessors, and to gild [the panel] and do everything that will
enhance the beauty of the panel, his being all the expenses and the
costs....Ifthe said panel is not beautifully painted and it is not
embellished according to the wishes and desires of the same lessors,
they are in no way bound to pay him the price or any part of it.†
Sometimes patrons furnished the materials and paid artists by
the day instead of a fixed amount. That was the arrangement Duccio
made on October 9, 1308, when he agreed to paint the Maestà(FIG.
19-10) for the high altar of Siena Cathedral.
Duccio has promised to paint and make the said panel as well as
he can and knows how, and he further agreed not to accept or re-
ceive any other work until the said panel is done and completed....
[The church officials promise] to pay the said Duccio sixteen solidi
of the Sienese denari as his salary for the said work and labor for
each day that the said Duccio works with his own hands on the
said panel... [and] to provide and give everything that will be nec-
essary for working on the said panel so that the said Duccio need
contribute nothing to the work save his person and his effort.‡
In all cases, the artists worked for their patrons and could count
on being compensated for their talents and efforts only if the work
they delivered met the standards of those who ordered it.* Translated by John White,Duccio: Tuscan Art and the Medieval Workshop
(London: Thames & Hudson, 1979), 34.
†Translated by James H. Stubblebine,Duccio di Buoninsegna and His School
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979), 1: 192.
‡Stubblebine,Duccio,1: 201.Artists’ Guilds, Commissions, and Contracts
WRITTEN SOURCES