So there are two ways you could look at the word politics. First is one the state level, in which Renaissance architecture was commissioned much like the Middle Ages architecture before it. Though architecture was usually comissioned by the regional Church during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance saw the Church lessen their patronages in the wake of rising powers of great princes and their powerful families, like the Medici, or of powerful guilds with their stranglehold over an entire region's crafts and craftsmen, like the wool finisher's guild, considered to be the wealthiest of the guilds during early Renaissance Florence. Many of these buildings and sculptures were expressions and symbols of a city's sovereignty and independence and carried with the feelings of great civic pride. To take Florence as an example, there is the humorous account of the supposed riot that broke out as Michaelangelo's David was being paraded about. One side made up of foreigners who despised the arrogance of the city did their best to deface David with rotten vegetables, while the othr side made of Florentine natives who saw David as representative of their steadfast resolution against the hated Milan, was fighting the defacers, trying to defend it.
Another example is the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, known simply as the Palazzo Medici before the Riccardi family purchased the building and doubled the length of the facade in the eighteenth century. Made for thehead of the Medici banking family, Cosimo de Medici by Michelozzo, the Palazzo Medici is notably very severe and not like the onstentatious designs of many of palaces being constructed during the 1430s to 1440s in Florence. The original design by the famous Brunelleschi was rejected, evidently on the grounds that it was too imposing and fancy to be politically wise. While the Medici were the de facto rulers of Florence the city was still nominally a republic, and Cosimo did not want his private residence to reflect that of royalty. Thus the Medici were given their very square building, although still a masterpiece of architecture.
And then you have the politics between artists. We can look again to Florence for a prime example of the egos of artists and the jockeying they did between them to gain themselves their commissions. Something that sponsors did frequently was hold competitions to award commissions. On the eve of the Early Renaissance, before Medici ascendency we have a competition to be awarded the commission to design the bronze doors for the east doors of the bapitistery of Florence; contestants seeking the commission were asked to represented the Sacrifice of Issac on a 21" by 17" quatrefoil. The competition has been narrowed down to two contestants, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Flippo Brunelleschi. Each man has spent over a year creating their work and not only the commission money, which is enough to set a man for life, but pride is at stake. You can see Ghiberti's entry on the left here, Brunelleschi's on the right. In the end, Ghiberti won the commission and he was extremely humble about the whole affair (\s)
“To me was conceded the palm of victory by all the experts and by all my fellow competitors. Universally, they conceded to me the glory, without exception. Everyone felt I had surpassed the others in that time, without a single exception, after great consultation and examination by learned men.”
This coming from an autobiography, mind you. And the result was actually pretty close.
If you would believe some accounts Brunelleschi stormed out of Florence and swore off sculpting forever, although Manetti, who actually knew Brunelleschi personally, described Brunelleschi as a quiet, amiable man, so more likely he was just extremely disappointed with the results and decided to turn his interests to architecture, fortunately for the art world. He moved on and off to Rome with his friend Donatello, where ancient Roman ruins inspired his future architectural style.
Later on in his life, Brunelleschi was awarded a joint commission to finish the dome of the Cathedral of Florence with none other than than his old enemy Ghiberti. The do me was an impossible task and it was quite literally only Brunelleschi's genius that made it possible. The man innovated building techniques and machinery on the spot (which is rather terrifying if you think about it, the dome is nearly 400 feet high). Which made Ghiberti's equal salary and potential equal credit all the more grating. So Brunelleschi feigned illness for several days order to expose Ghiberti's irrelevance to the construction of the dome. Eventually Brunelleschi got his wish, full control over the construction of the cathedral, while Ghiberti was kicked off. Brunelleschi died just as they were constructing the lantern that was to rest upon the top.
Hope that was informative. The hissy fits that these prima-donna artists throw at each other really are hilarious, even if much of it is a result of Vasari's coloring of these events.
Sources:
Engkish translation of The Life of Brunelleschi by Antonio Manetti
http://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/bjbecker/SpinningWeb/filippo.html
Richard G Tansey
Fred S Kleiner
Gardner's Art Through the Ages 10th edition Renaissance to Modern Art.
