British Museum

For more than 3,000 years, patronage of art and architecture has been a noteworthy path for women’s agency and self-expression. Over recent decades, patronage studies – which bring together issues of personal and group identity, political power and cultural production – have come to occupy a significant place in the history of art. It is well known that, in many cases, informed and intelligent patrons took an active role in shaping the character of the works they commissioned. The English term ‘patron’ comes from the Latin patronus (protector of clients or dependents, specifically freedmen), which is, in turn, derived from pater (father). Thus, the term ‘patronage’ is inherently gendered and, in nearly all cases, female patrons worked within the limitations of patriarchal societies. Yet, from Antiquity to the present day, women have requested (and collected) works of art and have commissioned buildings and urban interventions. It is important to stress that the patronage systems of the past were based on social stratification and inequalities in power and economic standing – so, in general, patronage by both women and men was the province of elites, who had the means to extend commissions. Some art historians have used the neologism ‘matronage’ when discussing women patrons but, along with most scholars working on the topic today, I prefer to use the traditional – albeit gendered – term patronage.  - 3000多年来，赞助艺术和建筑一直是妇女自我表现和代理的重要途径。近几十年来，赞助研究——将个人和群体身份、政治权力和文化生产等问题结合在一起——在艺术史上占据了重要的地位。众所周知，在许多情况下，知情和聪明的赞助人在塑造他们委托的作品的性格方面起到了积极的作用。英语术语“patron”来源于拉丁语的patronus（客户或受抚养人的保护者，特别是自由人），而后者又来源于pater（父亲）。因此，术语“赞助”具有固有的性别，在几乎所有情况下，女性赞助人在父权社会的限制下工作。然而，从古代到现在，妇女已经要求和收集艺术品，并委托建筑和城市干预。必须强调的是，过去的资助制度是建立在社会分层、权力和经济地位不平等的基础上的——因此，一般来说，男女资助都是精英阶层的所在地，精英阶层有扩大佣金的手段。一些艺术历史学家在讨论女性赞助人时，使用了新词“主客观”，但与大多数学者讨论今天的话题相比，我更喜欢使用传统的——尽管是性别的长期赞助。