In
the history of the arts, patronage refers to the support, encouragement or financial aid that traditionally kings, popes and the wealthy have provided to
writers, painters, poets, musicians and sculptors through the ages. The
word Patron derives from the Latin Patronus, one who gives benefits to his clients. From
the ancient world onward, patronage of the arts was important to art
history. It is known in great detail in reference to medieval and renaissance art.
Samuel Johnson defined a patron as,
"One
who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when
he has reached ground, encumbers him with help."
Most
languages other than English still use the term mecenate, derived from the
name of Gaius Maecenas, generous friend and adviser to the Roman Emperor
Augustus.
Artists
as diverse and important as Chretien de Troyes, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo
and William Shakespeare all sought and enjoyed the support of noble patrons.While
sponsorship of artists and the commissioning of artwork is the best-known
aspect of the patronage system, other disciplines also benefited from patronage,
including writers, philosophers, poets, musicians, alchemists, astrologers and
other scholars.
If
you would like to offer your financial support, no matter how large or how
small, it would be greatly appreciated.
They
say prostitution is the oldest profession, that may be true, but the profession
of the writer, the poet has always been the lowest paid. Working
as a poet on the streets of Medway living and writing within the homeless
community of Kent and the South East can be a hard, often very violent
environment, where the only job for life is prostitution, and a Writer trying
to earn a living as a poet on the street earns a hell of a lot less than the
beggars who work the same streets.