he Greek Byzantines. When the Emperor wouldnot pay for the gun, Urban went to his rival, the Ottoman Sultan, and sold it to him. Urban was not concerned with making a gun that would help any particular political arena,he just wanted to make some money. It is very important to understand the artists motives. If a church commissioned anartist to paint a mural, the painting would obviously be based on religion. The same artistcould be convinced to paint portraits of rich people, if the price was right. This explainswhy “details of commodities resemble that which we identify in the sacred works” (13) arefound in portraits, and not only in religious paintings. The artists did not change styles,only formats. The time the artists spent on a piece would be included in the artist’s price. However, the artists often had to pay for the materials himself. Expensive paints wereused to signify the importance of certain objects in the paintings. Therefore, the richer theman or church, the better quality of paint used. The more expensive paints were oftensupplied by the buyer to insure that they received the finest of quality.Books were another important part of the era. The printing trade was in it’sinfancy during the Renaissance. Scholarly books of Greek philosophy were madeavailable to the public. However, these books were extremely expensive, and out of reachfor most teachers and students. The fact that the books were made too expensive by thepublisher, namely Aldus Manutius, is a representation of the hunger for money. If he wasprinting books to enhance the quality of intellectual life, then the price would not be tooexpensive for the scholars. The fact is; he was printing books to make a profit. The salesof those books was bad for several years until a little competition came along, reducingprices. Books were a symbol of wealth during the Renaissance, especially rare ones. Printed books began to appear in ...
