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Art & Art History vocabulary · Collecting & the Art Market

Patron

Meaning in art & art history, with examples

/ˈpeɪtrən/nounCommon term

In art & art history, patron means: A person or organisation that supports artists, usually by paying for works or giving regular financial help; historically, often a ruler, a church or a wealthy family.

In Turkish: hami, sanat hamisi, mesen, destekçi

How it is used

Art historians study patrons and patronage: the Medici were major patrons of the Florentine Renaissance. Today museums also call their donors patrons. Patterns: a patron of the arts, a generous patron, under the patronage of.

Example sentences

  1. As a patron, Lorenzo de' Medici supported artists such as the young Michelangelo.

  2. Ottoman sultans and viziers were important patrons of architecture and the arts of the book.

Common collocations

  • patron of the arts
  • wealthy patron
  • royal patron
  • patronage system
  • museum patron
  • commissionA formal request, with payment, for an artist to make a particular work; also the work made in this way. As a verb, to order such a work.
  • collectorA person or institution that buys and keeps artworks or other objects, often over many years and around a particular theme.
  • RenaissanceThe period in European history, roughly from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, when art and learning were renewed by a strong interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture.
  • miniatureA small, detailed painting, especially one made to illustrate a manuscript, as in Persian, Ottoman and medieval European books; also a very small portrait.

More terms: Collecting & the Art Market

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