Regarded as artisans and craftsmen in the early fifteenth century, painters and sculptors acquired new status as "artists" within little more than a hundred years. Francis Ames-Lewis explores how Mantegna, da Vinci, Raphael, D&uurml;rer, and others gained intellectual respect and artistic autonomy from enlightened patrons by promoting the idea of the artist as a creative genius with a distinct identity and individuality.

Author Biography: Francis Ames-Lewis is professor of history of Renaissance art at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of Drawing in Early Renaissance Italy, available in paperback from Yale University Press.