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

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Against the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition.

Indeed, the Medici collection includes the largest corpus of extant objects from and images of the Americas in Europe but has never been the topic of a full-length art-historical study. Hibbert divides his book into four parts but three-quarters of the 300 pages are quite rightly devoted to the 100 year period from 1433 to 1537 , by far the most interesting period of both the Medici dynasty as well as the Renaissance generally. Vespucci emphasized the abundance and novelty of this New World, describing its boundless land, the infinite number of people speaking a multitude of tongues, the many wild animals, the different kinds of birds, and the precious stones he brought back on his ship.Etsy’s 100% renewable electricity commitment includes the electricity used by the data centres that host Etsy.

Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The ladies of the family played their own parts, with Catherine de Medici dominating the Valois of France, followed to the throne by her cousin Marie. The entire range of Medici Villas throughout Tuscany and Florence offers plenty for the public to explore, and The Medici Villas: Complete Guide by Isabella Lapi Ballerini, does an excellent job at taking readers on a journey of them. As I mentioned before, since opinions run into facts the book is prone to biases and makes us see the events literally through the author’s eyes as against the neutrality that I firmly believe historical works should uphold.

The long checkered history of the House of Medici is never dull but Hibbert imbues it with an uncommon vitality rarely seen in history books and it is that equally uncommon writing style of Hibbert’s that keeps me coming back to his Italian bibliography for my reading pleasure.

Through a close examination of archival sources, including inventories and Medici letters, Lia Markey uncovers the provenance, history, and meaning of goods from and images of the Americas in Medici collections, and she shows how these novelties were incorporated into the culture of the Florentine court. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. The Medici court’s collection and representation of the Americas were driven by this new knowledge and a desire to contribute to it. They also paint a picture of Renaissance life in Florence which is interesting if you’re planning a visit to the city.

The positive of such a narration is that it is easy to read for those not well versed in European history. 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. This book therefore illuminates the reciprocal relationship between collection and art production in the early modern period. Paul Strathern is a Somerset Maugham Award-winning novelist, and his nonfiction works include The Venetians, Death in Florence, The Medici, Mendeleyev's Dream, The Florentines, Empire, and The Borgias, all available from Pegasus Books. And we desperately need more work, popularising the Medici, truly the godfathers of the Rinascimento.

Furthermore, sixteenth-century Medici Florence was as much a receiver, conservator, and documenter of culture as it was a producer and donor. As you likely already know, the story of this once-modest family that rose to power is an incredible one. This first major UK exhibition to explore the exceptional talents of the Renaissance master Donatello, arguably the greatest sculptor of all time, presented a fresh vision of the artist and his influence on subsequent generations. Turning off the personalised advertising setting won’t stop you from seeing Etsy ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive. Born to a dark-skinned maid and Lorenzo II de’ Medici, the illegitimate Alessandro was groomed for power.Cosimo de’ Medici became his patron and apparently locked Lippi up so he would continue painting instead of carousing around town. To enable personalised advertising (like interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. A family is made up of individuals, and the Medici dynasty is full of characters with interesting and extraordinary lives.