L’apprendistato del pittore a Venezia nel Rinascimento: primi risultati dal progetto GAWS / Garzoni. Apprenticeship, Work and Society in Early Modern Venice 16th-18th centuries

This paper analyses the characteristics of the training of the different professions belonging to the guild of painters in Venice in early modern period, using an exceptional documentary source that is absolutely unique in Europe: the "Accordi dei garzoni" of the Giustizia Vecchia. The analysis of the data was conducted within the framework of the ANR-FNS project "Garzoni: Apprenticeship, Work and Society in Early Modern Venice, 16th-18th centuries". It takes into consideration the period 1575-1628 and describes the characteristics of the garzonato for a large sample of professions: painter, depentore, gilder, miniaturist, draughtsman, playing card painter, weapons decorator, painter of gilded and silvered leather, embroiderer and mask maker. This variety of profiles undoubtedly shows how the painter's garzonato, aimed mainly at Venetians, was not a means by which the master could obtain cheap labour, but had an eminently formative function.