Apprenticeship in General

Apprenticeship contracts and working conditions were regulated by guilds, whose members desired to uphold standards of quality in the commodities they produced. There were statutes pertaining to the number of apprentices that a master could train concurrently and the length of time that apprentices should serve. it was forbidden for apprentices to sell their work outside the workshop or to change masters. if these two rules were broken, there could be legal and financial repercussions for the apprentice’s parent or guardian who had signed the contract. The oath of an apprentice was strict, as exemplified by part of the oath sworn in 1504 in England by an apprentice to the Mercers’ (Merchants’) Company: “Ye shall hold steadfastly, secretly and for counsel all and every the lawful ordinances, whatsoever they be, to the Craft or

Education

Occupation of the Mercery belonging, and... ye shall observe, hold and keep, and not to break, discover, open or show any of them to any person, but unto such as unto the fellowship of the Mercery is here according to this oath sworn” (Scott 1976, p. 130). Their clothing was equally severe—a simple, flat cap over short hair and coarsely woven coats.

When an apprenticeship was completed, the individual usually set out on a Wanderjahr (year of traveling around), which often extended to several years in different locations. The English word journeyman literally expresses this idea. Unlike in today’s “gap year” in which students travel as tourists or work as volunteers for humanitarian causes, the journeyman worked for different masters, learning special techniques or processes from each one. He (and it was always a “he”) was paid for this work; many journeymen saved income from the Wanderjahr to return home and establish their workshop as master. Then they, too, could train apprentices, thus supporting the apprenticeship system in which they had learned their trade. The Wanderjahr was significant in the dissemination of new techniques and processes; the Wanderjahr for artists was especially important in the development of Renaissance art. New types of imagery as well as new techniques and processes were taken home by traveling apprentices.