The Renaissance was a time when genius and geniuses were unleashed. But patrons mattered as much as auteurs. Art and invention were tightly interwoven with money, power, and the ambitions of princes. Clever and creative people flocked to the wealthy to fund their endeavors, while the mighty threw their weight behind artists to help them emphasize their own good taste and the civic sophistication of their home cities. So for every Filelfo there was a Cosimo, each capable of elevating and thwarting the other in roughly equal measure.
