guild

An association of artists, craftsmen and/or merchants. In the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, guilds regulated and controlled art training and production in European cities. Web resource here.

Jan_de_BrayJan de Bray. The Governors of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. Oil on canvas. 1675. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. (The Guild of St. Luke was the painters’ guild).