Abstract
The term “patronage” has been used by artists and scholars alike, over the centuries, to refer to a mutually beneficial relationship between art patron and artist. Patrons provided support for artists and the arts in general in order to enhance their social and political standing and their visibility. Artists were willing to accept that support in order to have the ability to engage in creative work. Within scholarly discourse in the second half of the twentieth century, the term “patronage” was used to identify and separate the private support of the arts from the private support for social welfare and education. This divide was used to create a gap between (bourgeois) philanthropy in the United States and (feudal) art patronage in continental Europe. Newer research has overcome this artificial divide that had no evidentiary basis.