The chief advantages of Court theatres consist in a guarantee against possible deficit, and freedom from taxes; and this enables the intendants to price the seats in their theatres, in a manner which makes the best opera accessible to the most modest purse.
"The Operatic Problem"
William Johnson Galloway
When he left Orvieto he came to Florence to see Arnolfo's building of S. Maria del Fiore, and also to see Giotto, of whom he had heard a great deal elsewhere; but no sooner had he arrived in Florence than he was appointed by the intendants of the fabric of S. Maria del Fiore to make the Madonna, which stands between two small angels above the door of that church, which leads into the canons' quarters, a work much praised at the time.
"The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)"
Giorgio Vasari
Outside of the cities the monarch, whose private fortune was identical with the state finances, possessed immense domains managed by intendants and supporting a population of serf-colonists.
"The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism"
Franz Cumont