Sculptors' Partnerships in Michelozzo's Florence

Abstract

The study of the socio-economic aspects of artists' workshops and partnerships in early renaissance Florence has not stimulated much interest, perhaps because there remains the temptation to savor the romantic idea that the individual genius creates his masterpiece in solitude and sweat. But art production in the Renaissance was much like any other business, and its history in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries is inextricably tied to the workshop method. Few works of art were produced by the endeavors of one man alone, and in each city there were groups of artists working together in competing botteghe. The shop operated as a small clan with its own supporters, clients, and publicity, and often included carpenters, gilders, carvers of moldings, etc.—what we would call minor craftsmen.