I was at the physical therapist's today (right shoulder - probably chronic bursitis) and on her walls were reproductions of Monet paintings. One was signed "Claude Monet 72" and it made me wonder - when did artists start signing their paintings? I don't remember seeing signatures on Renaissance-era paintings, but I could be wrong. We all know what Leonardo da Vinci's signature looks like, but isn't that from his writings/drawings?

I'm just wondering if the advent of signing your paintings marked some kind of sea change in the way artists perceived their work.

i was always under the impression that it was somehow tied into the rise of humanism and a focus on the individual, but i'll have to rummage around a bit...it seems tied to the shifting idea of the artistic genius c. the renaissance. artists' biographies a la vasari, self portraits rather than history painting and art as a product (and therefore requiring marketing). it definitely gained cache in more more modern (read: post 1800s) times, which for me still ties into modernity and its emphasis on individualism, and more recently its connection to self-expression or discovery.

in the meantime, try this -- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/..._20020513.shtml

Check out Artist Signatures. A cursory glance seems that the earliest signatures date from the 15th century which is what my foggy memory recalls from art history class. There are paintings with Giotto's (1267 - 1337) signature according to this and he is generally considered the main artist at the beginning of the renaissance.

and of course there's durer -- probably the first westerner (the chinese and japanese 'chopped' their work centuries before the west made it common) to really make it a point of signing (or monogramming) their work...