15—17世纪中西方艺术赞助人差异研究

张杰夫

（南京艺术学院美术学院，江苏 南京 210036）

The patrons played a very important role in the development of the western art history．They largely promoted the prosperity of the development of the western arts．It is a kind of new mode of researching the western art history from the perspective of‘patron’．Even some art history specialities in the western art universities or colleges set the course named the‘art patron’to let the students know by who or which kind of people the production and the evolution of the art were supported in the develop－ment of the western art history．

However，due to the differences of the cultures between China and the West，while doing the research in ancient history in the angle of patron，we find out that it is obvious that the‘pa－trons’did not play the same role as important as they did in the western world，which caused the doubts of the Chinese scholars about whether the patrons are similarly important in the development of Chinese art history．

The aim of this essay is，to analyze the differences of cultures between the two civilizations，the western world and China，in 15—17 centuries，to explain the discrepancies of the influences on arts from the perspective of patron．

1 Different Meanings on Patron between China and the West

The Oxford English Dictionary defines pa－tron as a person who provides someone，some enterprise，some arts and so on with the influen－tial support to gain benefits．If it is used to name someone in commercial terms，obviously，it is just a superficial definition on patron．American scholars，John T Parati and Gary M Radek，thought that patron was a complicated termino－logy，and there were two words appeareing in Italian to give the clear definitions on it：one is clientelismo，based on the political concept，means a series of exchange associating the patron with the customer involved or a favor received；the other is mecenatismo which is just a behavior to purchase artistic works and to support art projects．

Moreover，some other scholars thought that patron was a terminology referring to a very few consumer group who have an executive ability，an asylum ability and a powerful monetary solvency，that is，not everyone can be counted in．In addition，this kind of persons were not the philanthropist，and they only sought for the maximum benefits on politics，economy and culture during the Sponsor Activity ＆Announcement．

Regarding to the researches on Chinese art history，Li Zhujin once mentioned in Chinese Painter and Patron that the similar terminology like‘patron’seemed not to have been mentioned in Chinese traditional works．‘connoisseur’and‘collector’are much similar in meaning，but does not cover the concept of patron，besides，the other scholars thought that‘sponsorship’and‘financial aid’or‘donation’have the similar meaning in Chinese art history，and patron refers to the persons who provide the financial aids or the donation．

However，both‘financial aids’and‘donation’are greatly different from ‘sponsorship’．The former does not ask for any retribution or any benefits，but the latter refers to the patrons who perform some transaction behaviors for benefits exchangs and seek for and gains benefits with the artists respectively．In that sense，does patron exist in China？It is not the case，when studying this question，we should not directly apply the definition of patron in researching the western art history to the researches on the Chinese art history，or use the contradictory definition standards of‘patron’in the West to deny that the‘patron’really exists in China［1］．

Undeniably，the ‘patron’defined in the West is really present throughout the Chinese art development，but such examples exist all in the today's work as Xu Zanhou to Jin Nong，He Junzhao to Huang Shenzeng and Xu Wei who had made the trip north and received financial help from all kinds of government officials．Even though this kind of support did not comply with so－called‘patron’defined in the West，it could be regarded as a form of patron with Chinese characteristics，which was more inclined to be a humanity support and more tended to be at the spiritual level but not at the material level in the West．So we can not say there was no‘patron’existing in the development of Chinese art history，but they only exist in different forms．

2 The Analysis on the Differences of the Arts Patrons between China and the West

When talking about the arts patrons in the West，some images，like Medici Family in Italy，Madame de Pompadour in France and so on，vividly appear in our minds，but such images rarely appear when mentioning about art sponsorship in China．What causes such a situation？

2．1 Benefit Views between China and the West

The westerners pay more attention to profits，but Chinese values material gains above justice，so the different backgrounds of the cultural thoughts cause the different concepts on patron between China and the West．

In western countries，people think that it is normal to evaluate the honor though the profits．As for the interest，the currency is the most di－rect embodiment，so as usual，the western people directly affirm the honor by money．Will Durant once cut one passage from Raphael's letter into The Story of Civilization：Renaissance（II）says“I have 3 000gold coins in Rome the capital，otherwise fixed income 50gold coins．His holiness gave salary 300to supervise St．Peter's church，the payment as long as I live with．．．I have started a hall as his holiness，which I also get paid 1 200gold coins．So，my dear uncle，you should see I was in the win honor for our family，for glory for the country．”Thus we can figure out such agreat master like Raphael was just demonstrating his achievement and honor by the number of money gained，and did not show any awkward．

Under such situation，a special relationship was formed between artists and patrons，that it is the artists who would be willing to pursue the higher artistic level to gain supports for the honor or the satisfaction money can bring，whereas，the patrons would satisfy any requirements from the artists by supporting the artistic behaviors to achieve the long－term benefits，which is a joint system for both to seek for the maximum benefits．

However this kind of relationship is difficult to be realized in China．Under the traditional restriction of Confucianism，Chinese values justice above material gains in order to demonstrate its culture and artistic conception．Taking painting as an example，the ancient painters in China，especially the literati painter，thought that painting was an activity of cultivating the mind and molding the character，and a case of connecting with the interests．However，the activities，such as selling paintings for profits like the artisan，would produce some negative influences．The literati value their fame and regard selling paintings for profits as the painters'taboo．Compared with the exchanging mode in the West，an ancient painter in China tended to give his painting as a present to his relatives，friends or confidants，and the donee would not sell the painting received as well，just like that in the case of Wu Kuan and Shen Zhou．Shen Zhou once presented his painting to Wu Kuan for many times，but we can not find any records on paying for the painting from Wu Kuan or selling out Shen Zhou's works by Wu Kuan．But contrasting the West，even though there was a few situations of presenting the pain－tings by the painters，in most cases there must have an indirect relation with benefits．

Obviously，we can see the emphasis on benefit directly influences the opinion on the significance of arts patrons between China and the West．

2．2 The Attitudes towards Arts in China and the West

The attitudes towards arts and their concept on arts are also the influential factors of the arts sponsorship in the system of feudal societies．In the West，the ruling class usually took the arts as a tool to advocate their governabilities and expected to achieve the maximum benefits through the artistic patterns．In History of Wes－tern Society，American scholar Hill Bennett has stated as“Florence the Medici family，for the sake of his rule，conventional art to win and maintain public support．They are good at using a variety of occasions，opportunity，and with the artist's outstanding works to please those who love beauty and attaches great importance to the citizens in the city's honor，let them in the enjoyment of beauty and honor of autocratic rule of the Medici family and give up the fight for freedom and democracy and political rights．”

In contrast，we can not deny the political influence of enlightening the mind and improving human relations in the ancient China，but if an emperor or a member of the ruling class was over keen on arts，he would be regarded as a chairwarmer，such as Li Yu，the king of the Southern Tang Dynasty and Chen Shubao，the king of the Southern Chen Dynasty．Although the fall of the kindom can not be attributed to the emperor or the king who was keen on arts，he would be ex－horted by his courtiers if he was over keen on arts．Definitely，there were some court painters or academies painters supported by the government in ancient China，however，those painters usually worked for the king's self－entertainment or recording the royal affairs but not publicly worked for advocating the governabilities or gaining the supports from the public which was a usual mode used in the West in the same period．

In summary，the ruling class in the West took the arts as a way of consolidating his power，but as a way of amusement and entertainment in China，the arts were regarded as a means of achieving mental peace，which resulted in the differences on arts sponsorship between China and the West．

2．3 The Patron's Status in China and the West

Here still taking painting as an example，the artists in the West were usually the‘vocational’artists who were appreciated by the patrons and gained benefits and fame．Their status was based on the confirmation and appreciation from the patrons，such as the artists in Italian Renaissance，whoever gained the support from the Medici Family was considered as a kind of lofty honor by Italian artists．Leonardo da Vinci，Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael were all welcomed and respected by the public because they were all welcomed and respected by their patrons［2］．

Nevertheless，the most mentionable is that it was extremely important to match the patrons'preference with the style of the artists．Taking Rembrandt as an example，his later year became very miserable since he changed his style from The Anatomy Lesson of Dr．Nicolaes Tulpto De Nachtwacht．Obviously，the patrons in the West made a great impact on the artists，and the artists had to rely on their patrons for living by taking arts as their vocation．But in China，the painters were in the class of literati and officialdom．They enjoyed rich material lives and did not need to earn their livings by painting，so in ancient China，the painters usually paid more attention to their painting interests and how to express their mind．Just like Ni Zan once wrote，“so－called painter，only draw a few，not for the similarity in form，but for self－entertainment”．

As mentioned above，the painters in ancient China thought that painting was for self－entertainment，but in the West painting was for fame and gain．Such different social status for the artists in China and the West resulted in the different conception and requirements on patron［3］．

3 Conclusion

To sum up，this essay has discussed the differences between the patrons of China and the West in 15—17th centuries．Moreover，this essay reviewed the reasons that caused the differences of the patrons of China and the West in the angle of the different meanings on patron，then analyzed the differences of the arts patrons，benefit views，the attitudes to arts and the patron's status between China and the West．Meanwhile，these analytical results of the diffe－rences between the patrons of China and the West in 15—17th centuries are consistent with other similar studies conducted in other countries，such as Gombrich，Michael Baxandall and Francis Haskell．These questions researched aboved are worth pursuing further study in order to make the study of art history in more diversities［4］．

［1］Durant W．The Story of Civilization［M］．New York：Simon and Schuster，1980：32－33

［2］Haskell F．Patrons and Painters：Art and Society in Baroque Italy 1962［M］．Yale：Yale University Press 1980：185－189

［3］Paletty J T．Art In Renaissance Italy［M］．New York：Columbia University Press，2005：24－26

［4］Gombrich E H．The Story of Art［M］．London：Phaidon Inc Ltd，1950：268－270