A commission from the Catholic Church during the Renaissance and a commission from a present-day random overseas person might be different things. In the past,

A commission from the Catholic Church during the Renaissance and a commission from a present-day random overseas person might be different things. In the past, patrons were generally well-known or well-established in a way that would have made them meaningful to the artist before the work even began. On the other hand, maybe "random overseas person" actually is meaningful as a category, if not as an individual. It's hard to think about. EDIT: It would be interesting to learn how the artists feel about this type of work after a few years of pursuing it.