Renaissance trade and the arts.

Trade has always been an essential part of the shaping of our cultures and societies throughout history, even when empires conquered and pillaged, once relations were restored, the first thing that would be established once more would be trade - when conquest was not possible distant empires would communicate through trade, commerce between the West and the East goes back to ancient times. This continues to our day, when trade is also used as a weapon in itself. Europe is how we know it because of the symbiotic relations between its regions throughout history. The Renaissance itself, one of the defining moments in European history, owes a lot to trade and commerce. How is an English cathedral related to a Florentine altarpiece through a Flemish panel? It all begins with one of the simplest and least refined materials, it is not some precious pigment or marble, but wool.

How does the Renaissance begin in England? Wool was the most important business in Medieval England, there was a great demand for it and it could be produced by anyone, from peasants to landowners themselves. English wool was also of extremely high quality which was very much sought after in the rest of Europe, especially by the amazing embroiders that lived in the Flanders’ rich merchant towns of Bruges, Ghent and Ypres. Wool became the backbone of the English economy to the point that it became known as “the jewel in the realm”; lords, bishops and abbots would count their wealth in sheep - abbeys played a major part in the production. Even today, the Lord High Chancellor in the House of Lords sits on a “woolsack” as a reminder of this. Flemish and Italian merchants were familiar to the wool markets of England and in the port town from which they would ship the precious material to Antwerp or Genoa. Monarchs would tax wool heavily to subsidize wars and other major expenses, such as Edward I, who also ordered all wolves in the realms to be killed in order to save the sheep! England essentially became a massive sheep farm. Edward III even went to war with France to protect the wool trade with the Flanders, the Hundred Year War. 

The eastern side of England was particularly productive and their wool famous across Europe. The town of Lavenham in Suffolk is probably the perfect example of an English Medieval wool town. In Tudor times, it was one of the wealthiest in the kingdom. With its wealth, the town had a beautiful church erected, this repeated itself across England, especially around East-Anglia, where fine churches were beautified by the amassed wealth, not only architecturally but with fine paintings and vestments too in English wool. English embroidery was so beautiful that it had its own name in Opus Anglicanum. One can still admire the massive English cathedrals built on wool money out of nowhere, Ely and Norwich are some fine examples with their intricate and rich Gothic architecture. 

As it happens with trade, it caused a bilateral effect. The Flanders also became incredibly wealthy, their marketplaces were at the heart of European business. This is the time when cities such as Ghent or Bruges really began to bloom architecturally thanks to the immense wealth their lords were accumulating. Since the 1200s, the wool that was refined in the Flanders became sought after by most of Europe. There was a market for luxurious fabrics which were acquired by the greatest families of Europe, such as the Medici in Florence, the popes of Rome, and many of the kings and queens of the continent. Indeed, the Medici of Florence, among many other banking Italian families, set up their own branches in Bruges, and indeed their banking system operated in England as well as most of Europe. The Flanders were a major trading hub located at the center of Europe and most especially between England and Italy. England was the source for most of the Flemish wool, their economies were co-dependant. Wool dominated the economy.

The English were also known for their own wool-work, the Opus Anglicanum, was what English embroidery came to be known. We think of the Bayeux Tapestry as a major early example. Beginning as early as the 10th century, the English had developed their own tradition of refining wool, they were especially able in making wonderful and elaborate vestments which were ordered not only by the greatest English cathedrals and abbeys, but also by the oldest and finest ecclesial institutions scattered across the continent, not least the old basilica of Saint Peter itself, whose cope still survives to this day. Opus Anglicanum also used fine linens and silk that were imported from the East by the Venetians and other Italians, trade was always at the heart of this industry. The Frescobaldi Company of Florence started out in London in 1304 and brought to London the finest textiles and pigments long before Queen Victoria ruled over the world’s largest empire. Most of the Opus Anglicanum was produced in the streets of the City of London, right behind the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral, embroiderers were not monks or nuns but private contractors, some of whom are still known by name. Indeed, the Flanders were once again a major hub for the trading of yet another form of art. If the Medici had frescoes and altarpieces, the Tudors had amazing embroideries. It is no wonder that art also, started travelling.

This far we have seen how England and the Flanders were communicating because of the wool trade. In the meantime, in southern Europe there was yet another major center, perhaps wealthier than the previous two combined. Unlike Rome, Florence had made its wealth through banking. Since the late Middle Ages various families such as the Bardi, the Peruzzi, and the Acciaiuoli, had a monopoly over Europe. Modern banking started out in Tuscany. We mentioned Edward III earlier, his wool money wasn’t enough to finance the Hundred Year War, he therefore asked the Florentine families for a massive loan which he never paid back. This caused a major crisis for a few decades until the Medici, with other contributions from other Florentine families, started the business once again but in a bigger and better manner, spreading to the four corners of Europe and indeed having their offices in London and the Flanders too. Florence also conquered the port of Pisa in 1406 and this allowed it to have a direct access to a faster trade via the sea. Florence also had great diplomatic relations with England and the Flanders. This whole economy and environment, with merchants, bankers travelling under the patronage of wealthier lords and priests laid the foundations for a very productive scenario. Trade between London and Florence through the Flanders soon started to produce its fruits and indeed what we most commonly associate with the Renaissance: art.

While the Italians were quite jealous of their art, the Flemish were less so. Rogier van den Weyden and Jan van Eyck themselves travelled to Italy around 1450-1460 and visited Florence, where, under the patronage of the Medici, worked on several masterpieces, influencing the local artists but also being influenced themselves, for example by the works of Fra Angelico. Florentine bankers living in the Flanders came to love the mystic and detailed Flemish Renaissance style and soon began to have some local commissions for their Italian homes and churches. Among these is the Portinari Triptych at the Uffizi which would be the defining work that would influence Florentine art with its realistic renditions of portraits and specific objects and landscapes. The Flemish would make Italian Quattrocento art into what we know it today. Other works include Memling’s Final Judgement which never arrived in Florence, instead it was stolen by pirates and ended up in Gdansk. The key figure in this process was probably Tommaso Portinari, who was the head of the Medici Bank in Bruges and counsellor to Charles the Bold, he commissioned the Portinari Triptych to Hugo van den Goes and had it sent to Italy, he was also a great client of Memling, his portrait is now at the MET. His family continued the tradition.

This process led to a fruitful exchange between the two traditions and marked the moment when Italian Renaissance art really came to be. It wasn’t just a one-way process though, the Flanders were also influenced by Italian art, which required a considerable amount of Lucca della Robbia tin-glazed terracotta and indeed Michelangelo’s renowned Bruges Madonna. Although, tamed by the effects of the Reformation and the Civil War, England also saw the beginning of their own Italianate influence; Henry VII had his funerary monument designed in the Italian Quattrocento style, Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey were had a fascination for Della Robbia. England also had its own version of Renaissance art. This Renaissance realism also influenced the iconography on Opus Anglicanum works which ceased to be Gothic and began to acquire the natural shapes and lines of Italian and Flemish art. Indeed the earlier Wilton Diptych at the National Gallery, which is a rare English survival, may have been influenced by the Flemish. Lastly, the greatest masters of the Italian Renaissance, such as Piero della Francesca, Filippo Lippi, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Sandro Botticelli were hugely influenced by the Portinari Triptych and by the love for realism and detail of the Flemish.

It was all a circle; the English made the wool, they refined it and sold it as beautiful vestments through the Flanders, Italian bankers and merchants facilitated this trade, along with them came Italian and Flemish works which ended up influencing each other, this was the great motor behind the Renaissance, the European genius at its best. Trade defined the Renaissance and weren’t it for this amazing exchange of beauty at this particular time, thanks to the patronage of wealthy bankers as philanthropists, the world we live in would have been very different.