Apparently, the word ‘proposal’ was first used in the English language “before 1550″.
That sets my mind spinning in creative – and silly – directions. One can imagine, for example, Michelangelo working late into the night in 1546. His task? Responding to Pope Paul III’s Request for Proposal for the design contract for St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
I wonder whether they had pizza delivery in Rome in those days, to help when they were trying to pull their proposals together at the last minute, by candlelight? At least the client would be confident that the quality of the graphics in his proposal would be pretty high…