An amateur is an artist who works or makes art as a hobby or for pure pleasure rather than as a business, profession, vocation, calling, career or a way to make a living. It was during the Renaissance era that the concept of  amateur status began to have substantial meaning. Prior to this time, the visual arts were considered mere crafts and therefore were socially unacceptable. However, upon the popularization of watercolors in the 18th and 19th centuries, amateur painters burgeoned throughout Europe.