Private initiatives have always been very important for the arts and cultural heritage. Even though government is a major source of funding for cultural institutions in most European countries, private patronage always had a role to play. In recent years, several European governments have actively promoted private cultural patronage and introduced various tax incentives to…

In seventeenth-century Amsterdam, poets showed their commitment to their city by praising it, its council and its politics in poems and tableaux vivants. Supported by rich and powerful city regents who acted as patrons, some poets achieved the unofficial status of ‘poet laureate’ of Amsterdam. One of them was Jan Vos (1610-1667). As this article…

Literair mecenaat is een verschijnsel dat door­gaans niet met de twintigste eeuw in verband wordt ge­bracht. In vrijwel al het onderzoek naar eerdere mecenaatsperiodes wordt gesteld dat de mecenas in de loop van de achttiende eeuw is uitgestorven. De opkomst van de literaire markt en het verval van de aristocratische macht zouden hem, zo menen…