Online Document Assignment 12

LEONARDO DA VINCI

A Genius and His Patrons

The artists, thinkers, and inventors of the Italian Renaissance shared one thing in common: they all depended on patrons for economic survival. Artists did not first create paintings and sculptures and then search for customers; instead, they accepted commissions from elite individuals and institutions to produce works that met the clients’ stated needs and desires. Agreements between artists and patrons could be extraordinarily specific, detailing everything from the size and subject matter of a piece to the particular paints and other materials to be used. Likewise, scholars and inventors sought the protection and assistance of elites to sponsor their research, pay for the publication of their works, and help them secure positions in courts, government institutions, and universities. Thus patrons exerted considerable influence over artistic and scholarly production. They viewed themselves as making investments that would pay dividends in the form of increased power and glory. Savvy artists and scholars understood this and took pains to ensure that their work was consistent with clients’ tastes, opinions, and objectives.

Even Leonardo da Vinci, the quintessential example of a Renaissance “genius,” could not escape completely from this dynamic. Throughout his professional life, his wide-ranging activities were supported by a series of wealthy and powerful patrons that included some of the most important men of his day. In 1482 Leonardo entered the service of Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan. After the French drove the Sforza family from Milan in 1499, Leonardo returned to Florence and, in 1502, went to work for Cesare Borgia, the son and right-hand man of Pope Alexander VI. In 1507 King Louis XII of France, then holding court in Milan, made Leonardo his court painter. Pope Leo X took over as Leonardo’s patron from 1514 to 1516. Finally, in 1516, Leonardo moved to France to serve King Francis I. According to the sixteenth-century biographer Giorgio Vasari, the relationship was so close that Leonardo’s death in 1519 occurred “in the arms of the King.” As you explore this evidence related to Leonardo and his patrons, consider what light it sheds on their relationships. How did the needs and desires of Leonardo’s patrons shape his work?

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