Abstract

The paper analyses the explosion of art and luxury goods market in the modern era by examining the tradition of discourses developing the new models of «dispendio onorato» ('honourable' expenditure), relating them to the classical and classicist system of ethic and aesthetic. The books published by Giovanni Pontano in 1498, De liberalitate, De beneficentia, De magnificentia, De splendore, De conviventia, are among the best examples of this tradition. Liberality is the chief virtue, but the others are its applications and stem directly from it. As a whole they concern the new code of wealth, as honourable expenditure, and its ordinary practices (ordinary as they are the habitus of the modern gentleman), such as the distribution of benefits, the building of palaces and organization of magnificent events, or a domestic life characterized by quality and mannerly pursuits. At the heart of these discourses is the transformation within nobility, from the feudal warrior proud of his towers and castles, a man devoted to a violent and barbaric compagnonnage, to the gentleman living in splendid palaces full of those objects whose excellence is in their beauty, or residing in magnificent villas to ordinarily enjoy a new, civilized conversation.