Evolution of the artist's profession as an important factor in the art market development (from Antiquity to the Renaissance)

Abstract

The article describes artistic creativity as a professional activity and as an important factor in the art market development. It attempts to follow the evolution of the profession from craft to intellectual creativity in the period from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Thinking of art as a production process enables the important points that had a great impact on it to be highlighted: the role of the customer, the perception of artistic creativity by society, the self-awareness of artists, the organization of labor, etc. During Antiquity, the fine arts were perceived as technical ones arising from the mental activity of man and embodied in his work, so they were evaluated by the same criteria as other applied crafts. Throughout the Middle Ages, the church was the main customer of an art product, and fine arts were used as an improvised means of religious didactics. Scholastic authors perceived "mechanical" arts as lower ones, as noted. A significant rethinking of fine arts and the person creating it had been taking place during the 12th–14th centuries with the advent of the private customer. Recognition of fine arts as intellectual work has also significantly changed the working conditions of artists, the evaluation and perception of the artistic product, contributed to the further development of the art market.