V. The Periphery of the Network: Friends of Commission

Abstract

In constructing a family image in early Renaissance Florence, as well as contemporary Hungary, commissions to skilled artisans served to build up the fame of the family, as well as to preserve its memory.1 In her analysis on the artistic patronage of the Nasi and the Del Pugliese families, back then both new to Florentine society, Jill Burke has shown the ways they attempted to create a public image for their lineages by means of visual representation.2 Even though the Scolari was an ancient lineage, which traced ancestry back three centuries, because of their lost status and influence, they needed to reintroduce themselves to the Florentine ruling elite. Their commissions of objects and buildings testify to the fact that the three elder Scolaris’ concern in enforcing their family’s identity provided a basis for cooperation, or maybe even friendship, with several signif icant Florentine artisans. Among them were leading goldsmiths, architects, and painters, who, by their innovative spirit, contributed considerably to the development of the early Renaissance material culture. Artisans in Florence typically did not belong to the same social strata as merchants. Though the most prestigious among them might have had family names that were developed before the studied period, the lack of their political influence as well as their modest family patrimony did not entitle them to intermarry with the mercantile elite.3 Only exceptions like the Gaddi family, which had both international merchants and important artisans among its members, might have maintained nuptial ties to other merchant families.4 However, artisans became part of a similarly complex network of commissions, also including those merchants and their families who wished