The Medici – Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance

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While Dacos refuted the notion that Aztec art had any effect on Renaissance art, she simultaneously indicated that American inspiration did exist, observing that Raphael studied and depicted the exotic New World animals that had been brought to the papal court when he produced frescoes in the papal apartments. It has always struck me how any layman is acquainted with the term Renaissance and has heard of artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo, and how the Medicis-whose patronage and sometimes protection, enabled Florence to become the centre of the Renaissance-, are barely discussed. When a sixth member of their group, Lapaccia, goes missing and is rumored to have stolen a much- sought-after painting before she vanished, the women must venture out into the dangerous streets to find their friend. From bankers and money-lenders to grand dukes, popes and queens, the Medici rose to become one of the most powerful and influential ruling families in Italy and Europe. As able businessmen they made plenty of money, and owned the most important banks in Europe at the time.

Stephen Greenblatt most famously wrote of the European response to the Americas as the “colonization of the marvelous,” whereas Sabine MacCormack and Anthony Grafton have demonstrated the many ways that Europeans compared the New World to antiquity. The prolific author continues to do what he does best—bring history to wondrous life—with this thorough history of the Medici family, the stimulus and backbone of the Renaissance. grams of pure gold it was clearly not a fiat currency capable of being endlessly printed and therein lies the difference.The next two chapters therefore explore the collection and representation of the Americas under Cosimo and his wife Eleonora di Toledo.

The Medici series is billed as a fictionalized depiction of the powerful Medici family who ruled Florence for almost a century. Leonardo da Vinci does not make an appearance in the Medici series, but the real da Vinci certainly had dealings with members of the Medici family and was patronized by Lorenzo de’ Medici. In this book, facts run into opinions whether they are of the author or primary sources of the time, which in itself is hard to distinguish at times. New World objects and images of the Americas in Florence could at once act as symbols of Europe’s past, evoke the marvelous, appear comparable to the antique, serve as a subject of naturalist and ethnographic study, and inspire the fantastical.This book therefore illuminates the reciprocal relationship between collection and art production in the early modern period. To survive, Filippo di Tommaso Lippi - street urchin, forger, drinker, and a seducer of nuns - must become Fra Filippo Lippi - Carmelite friar, and man of God. Although while reading it I didn’t feel it was belligerently homophobic, it is absolutely true that the author doesn’t possess a true understanding of homosexuality.

Manuel Blasco de Nebra and Antonio Soler take us far from Martini’s sophisticated counterpoint and Bolognese polish to a proud and fiery music. Despite this lack of direct ties, these Medici grand dukes acquired a great number of objects from the New World, such as masks, featherwork, and codices—more than most other contemporary European rulers, collectors, and scientists in the sixteenth century. Chapter 6, by examining Ferdinando’s art and collecting, explores his engagement with the New World as a cardinal in Rome and during his first years as duke in Florence. At the same time, Lippi created paintings of remarkable beauty, such as The Nativity in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. As a result of their efforts, Renaissance Florence boasted one of the largest collections of objects from the New World as well as representations of the Americas in a variety of media.

They also paint a picture of Renaissance life in Florence which is interesting if you’re planning a visit to the city. She just never expected the fantasy to come true, or for it to lead her to answers about her mysterious family. But Catherine is now the powerful mother of kings, who will do anything to see her beloved second son, Henry, rule France. The beauty of Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence is that Tim manages to make the book very enjoyable. But such was the reputation and reach of the Florentine bankers, and none more so than the Medici with their branches strewn throughout Europe, that in the 15th century the Florin was a more dominant and more secure currency then the Euro is today.

The rise of the Medici was fast and glorious led by men of real quality and substance whereas the decline was slow and pathetic involving too many idle wastrels unworthy of the Medici name.In the villa of his irritating new patron, the artist’s creative well runs dry—until the day he sees Floriana, a Jewish weaver imprisoned in his sister’s convent. Through these imaginative artistic endeavors the Medici and their collaborators brought the New World home to Italy and made its new lands, its natural settings, its peoples, and its art accessible within their own sphere.