Abstract

Humanistic education and activities in a Renaissance artist’s workshop in the 15th and 16th centuries are two spheres that at first glance do not seem to overlap. Neither the disciplines which they studied, nor the goals of the humanist and the painter were identical. Traditional approaches to the study of the Renaissance artists’ workshops, as a rule, focused on specific aspects of their existence. Already in the late 19th century the school of connoiseurship addressed the question of attributing the style of the workshop as a circle of artists not always connected with each other. Proponents of the study of art history in the framework of the history of ideas see the workshop as a community of artists who shared common values. Social art history, by contrast, views the workshop as a very specific group of people working together. Modern technical and technological research makes it possible to reveal the secrets of the creative process of masters and their assistants. Currently the most interesting and innovative thoughts about the Renaissance workshops arise where the abovementioned approaches meet, and new problems are included in the research discourse. In particular, it may be interesting to consider the problem of humanistic education, which has its own complex historiography, from positivist approaches to idealization, and to critical assessment. The parallels between the humanistic approaches to education and the organization of painting workshops in the case of the 16 th-century Rome have not been identified in the current scientific literature. It can be noted that this period was significantly influenced by the experience of the Quattrocento educators. Thus, of special interest among humanist educators is Vittorino da Feltre, who until 1446 headed the Mantuan school La Giocosa “The House of Joy”. In the workshops of the Cinquecento Rome, many of the educational approaches developed by the humanists of the previous century found practical application in the work with apprentices and assistants. In particular, this concerns the specialization of masters in various techniques and genres. Though it changed over the century, this approach permeated the history of Roman workshops.