The comedian Steven Wright recalls walking past a restaurant with a sign advertising “Breakfast Anytime,” so he ordered French toast in the Renaissance. Turns out he could have had some fun shopping while he was there.
Shopping in the Renaissance by historian Evelyn Welch traces the rise of consumerism and the marketplace in Italy, where you could buy anything from Greek antiquities to papal indulgences. This was a time when merchants were moving from open markets to enclosed shops, a trend that gave shoppers the incentive and opportunity to build long-lasting relationships (and credit) with merchants, and allowed for a marketplace with greater decorum.
Was there really a Renaissance consumer revolution that prefigured the events in Paris and London in the eighteenth century, the period we commonly suppose ushered in the modern era of consumerism? Welch leaves those bigger questions to other historians, instead using the role of cultural historian to answer some basic questions: “How did men and women of different social classes go out into the street, squares, and shops to buy the goods they needed and wanted on a daily or once-in-a-lifetime basis during the Renaissance period? When and where could they shop? Did they send servants, or were deliveries made to their doors? How did they know how much something cost? Could they return items that weren't satisfactory? How did they know when they were getting good value or when they were being cheated?”
Using published papers, private letters, diaries, criminal records, price lists, paintings, and other sources, Welch reconstructs in detail the minds and environments of Renaissance shoppers, merchants, and architects. We learn, for example, that anyone with a social reputation to protect would consider very carefully the decision of whether to make a purchase from home using an intermediary or journey down to the market for some first-hand shopping. “Bargaining in public might compromise one's reputation, particularly if one lost during the negotiations; but buying from the home reduced market knowledge and choice,” writes Welch.
This is a scholarly treatment of an intriguing subject, leavened with beautiful illustrations from the Renaissance.
- Sean Silverthorne