In a message dated 3/11/10 10:31:24 AM, [email protected] writes:
> Shearman seems to think use of the word artist as an honorific for > artisans > making images was sometime during the High Renaissance, when people who > wanted the things began holding the people who made them in higher > esteem..... > I suppose someone somewhere has written a tome about the rise of "titles" as part of mens' attempts to escalate themselves above the level of the hoi polloi. The would-be "gentry" affected 'Gentleman', and 'Esq'. They used honorifics to honor themselves. I'm not sure which Shearman you're citing. I wonder if he also discerned that the creators in that high Renaissance had no complaint about that new title for them -- 'artist'.
