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"Inside A Renaissance Studio"

© Meg Greene Malvasi

A handsome marble statue here. An elaborate chest there. An altarpiece for the local church. A chair for a prosperous merchant. A delicate glass bottle for a nobleman's wife. An ornate bronze casket for a pope. All of these handmade objects, and others like them, were produced by the numerous craftsmen who flourished in Italian city-states throughout the Renaissance.

All Renaissance craftsmen (or artisans) operated under what was known as the guild system. Guilds were early trades unions formed to regulate the work of artisans, to set standards of quality, to fix prices, and to protect the artisans themselves from destructive competition. Guilds, for example, jealously guarded "trade" secrets so that any special techniques or materials used would not be stolen or copied. Sculptors, painters, metalworkers, glassblowers, silversmiths, and other craftsmen each had their own guilds to govern their professions. If a craftsman wanted to work in a particular profession he had to qualify for membership in the appropriate guild and agree to abide by its rules.

The distinction between artist and craftsman was not so pronounced during the Renaissance as it became in later times. Many artists, such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, were also recognized as skilled artisans. They not only painted and sculptured, but designed and built everything from furniture to household decorations to the enormous fountains that graced public squares in cities like Rome, Venice, Milan, and Florence.

Young boys, like Leonardo and Michelangelo, came to the studio of a master craftsman to serve as apprentices. A boy's parents would sign a contract with a master craftsman the terms of which included the skills the boy was to learn, the duration of his employment, and the nature of his living arrangements.

It commonly took years for apprentices to learn their craft. For the first year, they might do nothing more than observe others at work and clean up the studio at the end of the day. It might be another year or longer before an artist's apprentice would be entrusted with the responsibilities of mixing colors or helping to fashion a wax mold for the master. In time, the master would give the apprentice additional responsibilities and perhaps even assign him small commissions of his own to see how well he performed the work. By the time an apprentice left the studio at the end of his contract he was a young adult ready to begin working as craftsmen for one of the local guilds. Exceptionally talented apprentices, again such as Leonardo or Michelangelo, might establish their own studios.

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