The circulation of art among countries has spread culture and knowledge across borders. Less recognized perhaps is its function in connecting leaders of different states and in providing financial benefit to the participants. Italian leaders have long understood these principles.

In the Renaissance the Medici Grand Dukes often sent works of art from Florence to royal or ducal families across Europe. The great sculptor Giovanni da Bologna (1529-1608), for example, was the late-sixteenth-century master of the small bronze statuette, a portable and durable gift.