Answer:
D. explore nonreligious themes.
Explanation:
During the Renaissance, churches held most of the power and had enough wealth to pay artists for commissioned work. As artists had to earn a living, they could only paint what is paid, and this was often religious work ordered, bought ord supported by churches – frescos, altarpieces, scenes from the Bible, etc.
However, <u>private patronages allowed artists to go outside of these realms and explore different nonreligious subjects.</u> They did not have to worry about money because they had patronage from a very rich family.<u> Medici was one of those families and perhaps the most famous one of the kind. They were Florentian merchants who supported artists and often commissioned work from them. </u>
For example, Botticelli’s famous piece<em> Birth of Venus</em> was commissioned by one of the Medici’s to celebrate his marriage. <u>The church would not support this kind of painting otherwise, but the money and commissions of this kind offered artists a chance to be more expressive and explorative with the themes.</u>
