A patron is someone who financially supports a given cause or person. The phrase “patron of the arts” persists today, as patronage is historically linked to individuals and groups sponsoring artists. 

Historically, people in positions of power like kings and queens funded all types of visual artists to outfit their homes, cities, and important buildings like churches and town halls. If you were an artist and had a powerful patron, your financial security was all but guaranteed. In the Italian Renaissance, patrons either took on artists and commissioned them work-by-work, or they fully took them into their estates and provided them with housing while the artist was “on-call” for all art needs. Depending on the scale of a project, an artist could be funded by patrons for years.

Patronage extended beyond individuals. Groups of artists, or guilds, were commissioned as a group as well to take on projects. Most artists were guild members throughout their life or at least in the beginning of their careers. Being a part of a guild not only meant that an artist had a support system to work within and learn from, but provided opportunities to participate in group commissions.