Lorenzo de` Medici

Transcription

Lorenzo de` Medici

Lorenzo de' Medici - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_de'_Medici
Lorenzo de' Medici
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lorenzo de' Medici (1 January 1449 – 9 April
1492) was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of
the Florentine Republic during the Italian
Renaissance.[1] Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent
(Lorenzo il Magnifico) by contemporary Florentines,
he was a magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of
scholars, artists, and poets. He is perhaps best known
for his contribution to the art world, sponsoring
artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo. His life
coincided with the mature phase of Italian
Renaissance and his death coincided with the end of
the Golden Age of Florence.[2] The fragile peace he
helped maintain between the various Italian states
collapsed with his death. Lorenzo de' Medici is
buried in the Medici Chapel in Florence.
Lorenzo de' Medici
Portrait by Agnolo Bronzino
Contents
Ruler de facto of Florence
Reign
2 December 1469 – 9 April 1492
Predecessor
Piero the Gouty
Successor
Piero the Unfortunate
4 Marriage and children
Spouse(s)
Clarice Orsini
5 Later years
Issue
1 Youth
2 Politics
3 Patronage
6 In popular culture
Lucrezia de' Medici
Piero de' Medici
7 References
Maddalena de' Medici
8 Further reading
Contessina Beatrice de' Medici
9 External links
Giovanni de' Medici, Pope Leo X
Luisa de' Medici
Contessina de' Medici
Youth
Lorenzo's grandfather, Cosimo de' Medici, was the
first member of the Medici family to combine
running the Medici Bank with leading the Republic
of Florence. Cosimo was one of the wealthiest men
in Europe and spent a very large portion of his
1 of 9
Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours
Full name
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici
Noble family House of Medici
Father
Piero the Gouty
Mother
Lucrezia Tornabuoni
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
fortune in government and philanthropy. He was a
Born
1 January 1449
patron of the arts and funded public works.[3]
Florence, Republic of Florence
Lorenzo's father, Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, was
Died
9 April 1492 (aged 43)
also at the center of Florentine life, active chiefly as
Careggi, Republic of Florence
an art patron and collector, while Lorenzo's
grandfather and uncle, Giovanni di Cosimo de'
Signature
Medici took care of the family's business interests.
Lorenzo's mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni was a poet
and writer of sonnets and a friend to poets and
philosophers of the Medici Academy. She became her son's advisor after the deaths of his father and
uncle.[3]
Lorenzo, considered the brightest of the five children of Piero and Lucrezia, was tutored by a diplomat
and bishop, Gentile de' Becchi and the humanist philosopher Marsilio Ficino.[4] With his brother
Giuliano, he participated in jousting, hawking, hunting, and horse breeding for the Palio, a horse race in
Siena. His own horse was named Morello di Vento.[5]
Piero sent Lorenzo on many important diplomatic missions when he was still a youth. These included
trips to Rome to meet with the pope and other important religious and political figures.[6]
Lorenzo was described as rather plain of appearance, being of average height, having a broad frame and
short legs, a swarthy skin, squashed nose, short-sighted eyes and a harsh voice. Giuliano, on the other
hand, was regarded as handsome; he was used as a model by Botticelli in his painting of Mars and
Venus.[7]
Paintings by Botticelli which use the Medici family as models
Madonna of the Magnificat shows
Lucrezia as the Madonna, surrounded
by her children with Lorenzo holding
a pot of ink.
2 of 9
The Adoration of the Magi includes several
generations of the family and their retainers.
Sixteen-year-old Lorenzo is to the left, with his
horse, prior for his departure on a diplomatic
mission to Milan.
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
Politics
Lorenzo, groomed for power, assumed a leading role in the state upon the death of his father in 1469,
when Lorenzo was twenty. Already drained by his grandfather's building projects and constantly stressed
by mismanagement, wars, and political expenses, the bank's assets contracted seriously during the
course of Lorenzo's lifetime.[8]
Lorenzo, like his grandfather, father, and son, ruled Florence indirectly,
through surrogates in the city councils, threats, payoffs, and strategic
marriages.[9] Although Florence flourished under Lorenzo's rule, he
effectively reigned as a despot, and people had little political
freedom.[10] Rival Florentine families inevitably harbored resentments
over the Medicis' dominance, and enemies of the Medici remained a
factor in Florentine life long after Lorenzo's passing.[9] The most notable
of these rival families was the Pazzi, who nearly brought Lorenzo's reign
to an end when it had barely begun.[11]
On Easter Sunday, 26 April 1478, in an incident called the Pazzi
conspiracy, a group including members of the Pazzi family, backed by
the Archbishop of Pisa and his patron Pope Sixtus IV, attacked Lorenzo
and his brother and co-ruler Giuliano in the Cathedral of Florence.
Giuliano was killed, but Lorenzo escaped with only a stab wound. The
conspiracy was brutally put down by such measures as the lynching of
the Archbishop of Pisa and the death of the Pazzi family members who
were directly involved.[11]
Bust of Lorenzo de' Medici
by Verrocchio (1480).
In the aftermath of the Pazzi Conspiracy and the punishment of Pope Sixtus IV's supporters, the Medici
and Florence suffered from the wrath of the Vatican. The Papacy seized all the Medici assets Sixtus IV
could find, excommunicated Lorenzo and the entire government of Florence, and ultimately put the
entire Florentine city-state under interdict.[12] When these moves had little effect, Sixtus IV formed a
military alliance with King Ferdinand I of Naples, whose son Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, led an invasion
of the Florentine Republic, still ruled by Lorenzo.[13]
Lorenzo rallied the citizens. However, with little support from the traditional Medici allies in Bologna
and Milan (the latter being convulsed by power struggles among the Milanese ruling family, the
Sforza),[11] the war dragged on, and only diplomacy by Lorenzo, who personally traveled to Naples,
ultimately resolved the crisis. This success enabled Lorenzo to secure constitutional changes within the
Florentine Republic's government which further enhanced his own power.[9]
Thereafter, Lorenzo, like his grandfather Cosimo de' Medici, pursued a policy both of maintaining peace
and a balance of power between the northern Italian states and of keeping the other major European
states such as France and the Holy Roman Empire's Habsburg rulers out of Italy. Lorenzo maintained
good relations with Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, as the Florentine maritime trade with the
Ottomans was a major source of wealth for the Medici.[14]
3 of 9
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
Patronage
The Angel appearing to Zacharias, Tornabuoni
Chapel, contains portraits of members of the
Medici Academy, Marsilio Ficino, Cristoforo
Landino, Agnolo Poliziano and either Demetrios
Chalkokondyles or Gentile de' Becchi
Lorenzo's court included artists such as Piero and
Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio,
Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico
Ghirlandaio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti who were
involved in the 15th-century Renaissance. Although he
did not commission many works himself, he helped
them secure commissions from other patrons.
Michelangelo lived with Lorenzo and his family for
five years, dining at the family table and participating in
the discussions led by Marsilio Ficino. Lorenzo was an
artist himself, writing poetry in his native Tuscan. In his
poetry he celebrates life even while—particularly in his
later works—acknowledging with melancholy the
fragility and instability of the human condition. Love,
feasts and light dominate his verse.[15]
Cosimo had started the collection of books which
became the Medici Library (also called the Laurentian
Library) and Lorenzo expanded it. Lorenzo's agents
retrieved from the East large numbers of classical
works, and he employed a large workshop to copy his books and disseminate their content across
Europe. He supported the development of humanism through his circle of scholarly friends including the
philosophers Marsilio Ficino, Poliziano and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.[16] They studied Greek
philosophers, and attempted to merge the ideas of Plato with Christianity.
Apart from a personal interest Lorenzo also used the Florentine scene of fine arts for his diplomatic
efforts. An example includes the commission of Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Cosimo
Rosselli to Rome in order to paint murals in the Sistine Chapel — a move that has been interpreted as
sealing the alliance between Lorenzo and Pope Sixtus IV.[16]
In 1471 Lorenzo calculated that since 1434, his family had spent some 663,000 florins (approx. 460
million USD today) on charity, buildings and taxes. He wrote,
"I do not regret this for though many would consider it better to have a part of that sum in
their purse, I consider it to have been a great honour to our state, and I think the money was
well-expended and I am well-pleased."[17]
Marriage and children
Lorenzo married Clarice Orsini by proxy on 7 February 1469. The marriage in person took place in
Florence on 4 June 1469. She was a daughter of Giacomo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo and Bracciano
4 of 9
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
by his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini. Clarice and Lorenzo had 10
children:
Lucrezia Maria Romola de' Medici (Florence, 4 August 1470 – 15
November 1553); married 10 September 1486 Jacopo Salviati and
had 10 children, including Cardinal Giovanni Salviati, Cardinal
Bernardo Salviati, Maria Salviati (mother of Cosimo I de' Medici,
Grand Duke of Tuscany), and Francesca Salviati (mother of Pope
Leo XI)
Twins who died after birth (March 1471)
Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence, 15 February 1472 –
Garigliano River, 28 December 1503), ruler of Florence after his
Lorenzo by Girolamo
Macchietti (16th century)
father's death, called "the Unfortunate"
Maria Maddalena Romola de' Medici (Florence, 25 July 1473 – Rome, 2 December 1528),
married 25 February 1487 Franceschetto Cybo (illegitimate son of Pope Innocent VIII) and had
seven children
Contessina Beatrice de' Medici (23 September 1474 - September 1474), died young
Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence, 11 December 1475 – Rome, 1 December 1521),
ascended to the Papacy as Leo X on 9 March 1513
Luisa de' Medici (Florence, 25 January 1477 – July 1488), also called Luigia, was betrothed to
Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano but died young
Contessina Antonia Romola de' Medici (Pistoia, 16 January 1478 – Rome, 29 June 1515); married
1494 Piero Ridolfi (1467 - 1525) and had five children, including Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi
Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Nemours (Florence, 12 March 1479 – Florence, 17
March 1516), created Duke of Nemours in 1515 by King Francis I of France
Lorenzo also adopted his nephew Giulio, the illegitimate son of his slain brother Giuliano. Giulio later
became Pope Clement VII.
5 of 9
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule from the Sassetti Chapel frescos. Among the
spectators are Lorenzo's sons, (from the right) Giuliano with their tutor Poliziano, Piero
and Giovanni.
Later years
During his tenure, several branches of the family bank collapsed because of bad loans, and, in later
years, he got into financial difficulties and resorted to misappropriating trust and state funds.
Toward the end of Lorenzo's life, Florence came under the spell of Savonarola, who believed Christians
had strayed too far into Greco-Roman culture. Lorenzo played a role in bringing Savonarola to
Florence.[18]
Lorenzo de' Medici died during the late night of 8 April or during the
early morning of 9 April 1492, at the long-time family villa of Careggi
(Florentine reckoning considers days to begin at sunset, so his death date
is the 9th in that reckoning). Savonarola visited Lorenzo on his death
bed. The rumor that Savonarola damned Lorenzo on his deathbed has
been refuted by Roberto Ridolfi in his book, Vita di Girolamo
Savonarola. Letters written by witnesses to Lorenzo's death report that
he died peacefully, after listening to the Gospel of the day. Many signs
and portents were claimed to have taken place at the moment of his
death, including the dome of Florence Cathedral being struck by
lightning, ghosts appearing, and the lions kept at Via Leone fighting each
other.[19]
A posthumous portrait of
Lorenzo by Giorgio Vasari
(16th century)
The Signoria and councils of Florence issued a decree:
"Whereas the foremost man of all this city, the lately deceased
Lorenzo de' Medici, did, during his whole life, neglect no
opportunity of protecting, increasing, adorning and raising this
city, but was always ready with counsel, authority and painstaking,
in thought and deed; shrank from neither trouble nor danger for
the good of the state and its freedom ..... it has seemed good to the
Senate and people of Florence.... to establish a public testimonial
6 of 9
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
of gratitude to the memory of such a man, in order that virtue might not be unhonoured
among Florentines, and that, in days to come, other citizens may be incited to serve the
commonwealth with might and wisdom."[20]
Lorenzo was buried with his brother Giuliano in the Church of San Lorenzo, in the red porphyry
sarcophagus designed for Piero and Giovanni de' Medici, not, as might be expected, in the New Sacristy
designed by Michelangelo. This chapel holds the two monumental tombs of Lorenzo and Giulano's less
known namesakes, Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, and Giuliano, Duke of Nemours.[21] According to
Williamson and others, the statues of the lesser Lorenzo and Giuliano have been carved by Michelangelo
to incorporate the essence of the famous men. In 1559, the bodies of Lorenzo "The Magnificent" de'
Medici and his brother Giuliano were interred in the New Sacristy, in an unmarked tomb beneath
Michelangelo's statue of the Madonna.[21]
Lorenzo's heir was his eldest son, Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, known as "Piero the Unfortunate". He
squandered his father's patrimony and brought down the Medici dynasty in Florence. The second son,
Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X soon afterwards, restored it, but it was only made wholly secure
again on the accession of his great-grandson from a branch line of the family, Cosimo I de' Medici.[21]
In popular culture
A teenage Lorenzo is depicted in CBBC's Leonardo, played by actor Colin Ryan. However, the
historical accuracy of the series is questionable.[22]
Lorenzo de' Medici appears as a character in Assassin's Creed II.
Lorenzo de' Medici is portrayed by Elliot Cowan in the 2013 TV series Da Vinci's Demons.
References
1. ^ Kent, F.W. (2006). Lorenzo De' Medici and the
Art of Magnificence. USA: JHU Press. p. 248.
ISBN 0-8018-8627-9.
2. ^ Gene Brucker, Living on the Edge in
Leonardo's Florence, (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2005), pp. 14-15.
3. ^ a b Hugh Ross Williamson, Lorenzo the
7. ^ Hugh Ross Williamson, p. 70
8. ^ Walter, Ingeborg (2013). "Lorenzo der
Prächtige: Mäzen, Schöngeist und Tyrann"
[Lorenzo the Magnificent: Patron, Aesthete and
Tyrant]. Damals (in German) 45 (3): 32.
9. ^ a b c Reinhardt, Volker (2013). "Die langsame
Aushöhlung der Republik" [The slow and steady
Magnificent, Michael Joseph, (1974), ISBN
Erosion of the Republic]. Damals (in German) 45
07181 12040
(3): 16–23.
4. ^ Hugh Ross Williamson, p. 67
10. ^ Guicciardini, Francesco (1964). History of Italy
5. ^ Christopher Hibbert, chapter 9
and History of Florence. New York: Twayne
6. ^ Niccolò Machiavelli, History of Florence, Book
Publishers. p. 8.
VIII, Chpt. 7.
7 of 9
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
11. ^ a b c Thompson, Bard (1996). Humanists and
15. ^ La Poesie di (https://archive.org/details
Reformers: A History of the Renaissance and
/La.Poesia.di.Lorenzo.dei.MediciLydiaUgolini.19
Reformation (http://books.google.com
85) Lorenzo di Medici | The Poetry of Lorenzo di
/books?id=Hrq9d567398C&pg=PA189&
Medici- Lydia Ugolini; Lecture (1985); Audio
dq=Francesco+Salviati+archbishop&hl=en&
16. ^ a b Schmidt, Eike D. (2013). "Mäzene auf den
sa=X&ei=XiQhUZ3tMtDQsga95ICYBA&
Spuren der Antike" [Patrons in the footsteps of
ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&
Antiquity]. Damals (in German) 45 (3): 36–43.
q=Francesco%20Salviati%20archbishop&
17. ^ Brucker, G., ed. (1971). The Society of
f=false). William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Renaissance Florence: A Documentary Study.
Company. pp. 189 ff. ISBN 0-8028-6348-5.
New York: Harper & Row. p. 27.
12. ^ Hancock, Lee (2005). Lorenzo de' Medici:
18. ^ Donald Weinstein, Savonarola the Rise and
Florence's Great Leader and Patron of the Arts.
Fall of a Renaissance Prophet (New Haven,
The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 57.
2011) Chap 5: The Magnificent Lorenzo
ISBN 1-4042-0315-X.
13. ^ Martines, Lauro (2000). April Blood: Florence
19. ^ Hugh Ross Williamson, p. 268.
20. ^ Williamson, pp. 268-9
and the Plot Against the Medici. Oxford
21. ^ a b c Hugh Ross Williamson, p. 270-80
University Press.
22. ^ Leonardo on IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title
14. ^ Inalcik, Halil (2000). The Ottoman Empire: The
/tt1745588/)Leonardo on IMDB
Classical Age 1300-1600. London: Orion
Publishing Group. p. 135.
ISBN 978-1-84212-442-0.
Further reading
Miles J. Unger, Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de' Medici (Simon and
Schuster 2008) is a vividly colorful new biography of this true "renaissance man", the uncrowned
ruler of Florence during its golden age.
Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall (Morrow-Quill, 1980) is a highly
readable, non-scholarly general history of the family, and covers Lorenzo's life in some detail.
F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de- Medici and the Art of Magnificence (The Johns Hopkins Symposia in
Comparative History (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004) A summary of 40 years of
research with a specific theme of Il Magnifico's relationship with the visual arts.
Peter Barenboim, Michelangelo Drawings - Key to the Medici Chapel Interpretation ( Moscow,
Letny Sad, 2006) ISBN 5-98856-016-4, is a new interpretation of Lorenzo the Magnificent' image
in the Medici Chapel.
Williamson, Hugh Ross, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Michael Joseph, London. (1974) ISBN
0-7181-1204-0
8 of 9
3/9/15, 6:09 PM
Historical novels
Robin Maxwell, Signora da Vinci (NAL Trade, 2009), a novel that follows Leonardo da Vinci's
mother, Caterina, as she travels to Florence to be with her son.
External links
Texts of Lorenzo de' Medici
(http://ilmagnifico.letteraturaoperaomnia.org/index.html)
Lorenzo de' Medici as patron
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Lorenzo il
Magnifico.
(http://www.themedicifamily.com/Lorenzo-de-Medici.html)
"Info Please | Lorenzo De' Medici" (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0832477.html)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lorenzo_de%27_Medici&oldid=649031700"
Categories: 1449 births 1492 deaths 15th-century Italian people House of Medici
Italian Renaissance humanists Patrons of literature People from Florence Rulers of Florence
Burials at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence
This page was last modified on 27 February 2015, at 02:35.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms
may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a
registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
9 of 9
3/9/15, 6:09 PM

Lorenzo de` Medici

Transcription

Similar documents

Donatello timeline

TOTALLY LOST

Mark Ruffalo (Moving Pictures, 2011)

PDF press quality - Dejan Bogdanovich

Documento (File "vcm 67 ago 14" di 3,67 MB)

grand hotel villa medici

copertina e sovracoperta

Documento (File "vcm 59 ott 10" di 2,98 MB)

Untitled

Linear Perspective PDF

La famiglia e gli amici

the early renaissance 1400-1494