The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>

Already in the fourteenth century, poets such as Dante and Petrarch were unanimously considered Authors, while visual artists still had to strive hard, in the following century, to gain such recognition. While, on the one hand, they reshaped the nature of their work by bestowing a new identity on th...

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Main Author: Corinne Lucas Fiorato
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2012-03-01
Series:Journal of Early Modern Studies
Online Access:https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/6988
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author Corinne Lucas Fiorato
author_facet Corinne Lucas Fiorato
author_sort Corinne Lucas Fiorato
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description Already in the fourteenth century, poets such as Dante and Petrarch were unanimously considered Authors, while visual artists still had to strive hard, in the following century, to gain such recognition. While, on the one hand, they reshaped the nature of their work by bestowing a new identity on the objects they produced, on the other, they tried to redefine their relationship with their clients and patrons. If, on paper, Vasari’s monumental Vite codified these new attitudes for the following centuries, in everyday reality they were little appreciated. The products which artists created, furthermore, were of a particular nature, in part material and in part spiritual. This fact implied a paradox, since the spiritual dimension of the art work imposed itself in the very moment in which the work became an extraordinary market object, thanks to the rise of collecting and patronage. The idea that a work of art is priceless arose precisely when they became very expensive commercial objects, acquiring an important function in the economy of the Italian States. Starting from the writings of Benvenuto Cellini and Vasari’s Ragionamenti, this article discusses the tensions generated by the commercial exchange of the inestimabile.
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spelling doaj.art-4c925031b2ae46089bbda68ce0e469362022-12-22T00:21:22ZengFirenze University PressJournal of Early Modern Studies2279-71492012-03-01110.13128/JEMS-2279-7149-106469684The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>Corinne Lucas FioratoAlready in the fourteenth century, poets such as Dante and Petrarch were unanimously considered Authors, while visual artists still had to strive hard, in the following century, to gain such recognition. While, on the one hand, they reshaped the nature of their work by bestowing a new identity on the objects they produced, on the other, they tried to redefine their relationship with their clients and patrons. If, on paper, Vasari’s monumental Vite codified these new attitudes for the following centuries, in everyday reality they were little appreciated. The products which artists created, furthermore, were of a particular nature, in part material and in part spiritual. This fact implied a paradox, since the spiritual dimension of the art work imposed itself in the very moment in which the work became an extraordinary market object, thanks to the rise of collecting and patronage. The idea that a work of art is priceless arose precisely when they became very expensive commercial objects, acquiring an important function in the economy of the Italian States. Starting from the writings of Benvenuto Cellini and Vasari’s Ragionamenti, this article discusses the tensions generated by the commercial exchange of the inestimabile.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/6988
spellingShingle Corinne Lucas Fiorato
The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>
Journal of Early Modern Studies
title The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>
title_full The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>
title_fullStr The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>
title_full_unstemmed The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>
title_short The Birth of Artist-Authors and the <em>negozio dell’inestimabile</em>
title_sort birth of artist authors and the em negozio dell inestimabile em
url https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/6988
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