* Oil painting, invented in northern Europe, was still a little-known medium in Italy. The importation of masterpieces in oil by van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, by the Medici and their employees, stimulated the growth of this new medium in Italy, leading to the masterpieces of Leonardo and Raphael.
* In some ways the political climate was similar to the “spoils system” of nineteenth-century American politics.
* From the outside, the spot looks remarkably similar today—a wall backed by cypress trees. The garden itself is now a commercial plant store.
* See, for instance, Vasari’s “Life of Torrigiano” in his Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (vol. 1, p. 693): “Lorenzo the Magnificent, then, always favored men of genius, and particularly such of the nobles as showed an inclination for these our arts; where it is no marvel that from that school there should have issued some who have amazed the world. And what is more, he not only gave the means to buy food and clothing to those who, being poor, would otherwise not have been able to pursue the studies of design, but also bestowed extraordinary gifts on any one among them who had acquitted himself in some work better than the others; so that the young students of our arts, competing thus with each other, thereby became very excellent, as I will relate.
“The guardian and master of these young men, at that time, was the Florentine sculptor Bertoldo [di Giovanni], an old and practiced craftsman, who had once been a disciple of [Donatello]. He taught them, and likewise had charge of the works in the garden, and of many drawings, cartoons and models by the hand of Donat[ello], Pippo [Brunelleschi], Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Fra Giovanni, Fra Filippo, and other masters, both native and foreign.”
* For an influential essay minimizing Lorenzo’s contribution to art history see E. H. Gombrich’s “The Early Medici as Patrons of Art,” reprinted in Norm and Form, in which Lorenzo’s contributions are compared unfavorably with those of his grandfather. For a recent corrective to this view, see F. W. Kent’s Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence. While Gombrich emphasizes Cosimo’s role as a builder and patron and Lorenzo’s as a collector of precious antiquities, the Condivi and Vasari passages reveal that the two roles (collector and patron) were mutually reinforcing.
* Spedaletto was decorated with frescoes by Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, Perugino, and Ghirlandaio, all of them since destroyed. The notion that Lorenzo was less a connoisseur of painting than of other arts may merely be an accident of history.
* See Chapter XI.
* One scholar has made the intriguing suggestion that the dance of the Three Graces in the painting was literally choreographed by Lorenzo (see Emily Jayne’s “A Choreography by Lorenzo in Botticelli’s Primavera,” in Lorenzo de’ Medici: New Perspectives). Lorenzo’s interest in music is well documented; his interest in dance, however, is among the least studied aspects of this uomo universale.
* See Chapter IX.
† It found its way into Christianity through the activities of the various monastic movements. While some orders see it as their mission to remove themselves from the world, others believe they are meant to go out into the world. It is no coincidence that the Disputationes Camaldulenses is set in a monastery located in the wilds of the Apennines.
* Rinuccini’s opposition to Lorenzo’s rule, like that of so many others, can be traced at least in part to his thwarted ambition. He began as a supporter of Lorenzo, having been among those urging the reforms of 1471. His career took a wrong turn in the middle of the decade when, while on a mission to Rome, he reported a papal diatribe against Lorenzo to the Signoria. Thereafter, though he continued to hold various offices, he was never trusted by Lorenzo. His “Dialogue on Liberty” was written in 1479, during this period of political exile. For a brief sketch of Rinuccini’s life see Humanism and Liberty (Watkins, chapter 9).
* When the Emperor Frederick toured Florence in 1452 he made sure to visit Cosimo’s palace. This was almost certainly the casa vecchia, an indication that even before the move to the new house the Medici collections were renowned throughout Europe.
* There is an undated letter from Bertoldo to Lorenzo so chock-full of obscure puns that scholars have never been able to convincingly elucidate its meaning, which is a pity since among the topics it covers is his disdain for Count Girolamo Riario. He concludes his mocking letter, “I pray him that I may see the Pope, the Count [Girolamo], and Messer Luca suffocated in a vat full of pepper, and you, beware of their treachery” (see Ross, chapter 8).
* Among other inducements, Lorenzo offered Michelangelo’s father a job as a customs official, a typical example of Medici patronage.
* Piero was deeply involved in the latter two projects. It is difficult to apportion responsibility for many Medici commissions, but as head of the family Cosimo had the final say. Another major ecclesiastical project was the monastery known as the Badia in Fiesole, which, like so many of Cosimo’s projects, was give to the architect Michelozzi.
* The truth is that while Lorenzo was often strapped for ready cash, that never seemed to prevent him from pursuing those things that meant a lot to him. In building, buying up real estate, purchasing rare manuscripts and rare antiques, Lorenzo never appeared to be short of funds. This was no doubt made simpler by having his friends like Antonio di Bernardo Miniati put in control of all the major financial institutions of the state.
* The difficulty of making the transition from merchant banker to feudal noble is illustrated by a Florentine who noted that Piero was described in the French court as “the Great Money-Changer, because he did not have any legitimate title of lord in Florence.”
† History has vindicated Lorenzo’s strategy. While the republic had little future in a Europe soon to be dominated by vast nation states, the Medici “money-changers” endured by marrying into the great noble families, including the royal house of France, where Medici queens became mothers to French kings.
* It was referred to as the Barons War because it began with a rebellion by the feudal barons against King Ferrante and the ruling house of Aragon.
* De Roover’s analysis demonstrates that the bank did not in fact prosper during the reign of Innocent as Lorenzo and Giovanni Tornabuoni had hoped. (See The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, especially chapter 11 and chapter 18.) Heavy borrowing by the pope and by Lorenzo’s Orsini relatives ate away at profits. The main benefits, ultimately, were political and dynastic, but these shouldn’t be underestimated.
* Francesco lost so much gambling at cards to Raffaele Riario, the same young man who had been used as the dupe in the Pazzi conspiracy, that the cardinal used the windfall to build the famous Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome.
† Though Innocent frankly acknowledged Franceschetto as his own son, Lorenzo apparently felt it necessary to maintain the fiction, at least when putting pen to paper.
* Many scholars have seen in the exotic costumes a visual echo of the famous Council of Florence of 1438 in which Cosimo played host to the Byzantine emperor John Paleologus and his entourage. These easterners’ opulent garb made a deep impression on Florentines, but Gozzoli’s fresco seems more closely modeled on local customs and costumes.
* Lorenzo’s youngest son, Giuliano, did not marry until 1515 when he took a princess of the French royal house for his bride. The fruits of Lorenzo’s matchmaking were to have long-term consequences for the history of Europe. One granddaughter of Piero and Alfonsina was Catherine de’ Medici, wife of Henry II, King of France and mother of François II. Cosimo I, the first grand duke of Tuscany, was a grandson of Lucrezia, as well as a Medici through his father, the famous condottiere Giovanni of the Black Bands, descended from Pierfrancesco de’ Medici. Two of Lorenzo’s descendants who are more famous than they deserve are his son Giuliano and his grandson Lorenzo (son of Piero), who are known to history primarily as the occupants of Michelangelo’s famous tombs in San Lorenzo. His nephew Giulio, whom Lucrezia had brought to the palace after Giuliano’s assassination and who was raised as one of the fa
mily, was destined for a life in the Church. Elevated to cardinal by his cousin Giovanni, he also became a pope. As Clement VII he was the reigning pope during the horrific sack of Rome by Hapsburg troops in 1527.
* Guicciardini’s account of Lorenzo’s death is revealing. “It was also a great sorrow to the population of the city, especially to the lower classes, always kept by him in abundance, with many pleasures, entertainments, and feasts. It grieved all those in Italy who excelled in letters, painting, sculpture and similar arts, because either they were commissioned by him with lavish salaries or they were held in higher esteem by the other princes who feared that if they did not make much of them they would go off to Lorenzo.” (Guicciardini, The History of Florence, IX.)
* It can be argued that this delight in material things is inconsistent with Platonic philosophy, which views physical reality as a pale reflection of eternal truths. But logical consistency was never Lorenzo’s strong suit. He was, after all, a poet, not a philosopher.
† The exact nature of his final illness is not known, though recent exhumations of some of his relatives confirm that many suffered, like Piero and Lorenzo himself, from severe gout and chronic arthritis. These diseases often confined him to his bed, forcing this once athletic man to lead a life of unhealthful sedentariness. In his final months he suffered from repeated fevers and complained of a swollen neck that prevented him from swallowing. It is likely that the treatment of his physicians, rather than relieving his symptoms, hastened his end. The quality of his medical care may perhaps be suggested by the fact that his personal physician killed himself shortly after his master’s death.
* The current king of France was Charles VIII, who had succeeded his father, Louis XI, in 1483.
* The one exception was in the years following the Ciompi Revolt of 1348, when the workers seized power, but even the most liberal-minded Florentine had no wish to repeat this experiment in democracy.
* Michelangelo continued to move back and forth between Florence and Rome, quarreling with popes and with whoever was in charge of the Florentine government at the moment. The greatest work he completed for his native city was the monumental David (in 1504), while, despite his contempt for Lorenzo’s son Piero, his services to the Medici family continued, most notably in the Medici tombs in San Lorenzo. His patriotism was most directly expressed in the fortress he designed during the years the republic was struggling to maintain its independence.
* The descendants of Cosimo’s brother, Lorenzo, continued to occupy the casa vecchia. The descendants of this older Lorenzo eventually became in the sixteenth century the granddukes of Tuscany.
* See Chapter XIX.
* This seat of the Florentine government went by many names. The Palazzo (Palace) della Signoria refers to the capital’s role as home to the city’s highest governing body, the Signoria (lordship), a council of eight men who, along with their leader, the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia (Standard-Bearer of Justice), constituted the chief executive of the state. These men, elected on a bimonthly basis, were also referred to as the Priors; hence the capital also went by the name the Palace of the Priors. Florentines also often referred to the building simply as the Palazzo Vecchio, the Old Palace.
* Luigi Pulci’s ribald and rollicking poem Morgante, for instance, is dedicated to “the most noble lady Lucretia di Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici.”
* The splendor of these parades is recalled in Benozzo Gozzoli’s Adoration of the Magi in which the retinues of the kings, especially that of the young Caspar, are based on contemporary brigate, complete with mounted escort and attendants.
* “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!”(Hamlet, II, ii.)
* Lorenzo, though fascinated by ancient Greek culture and literature, was probably not fluent in the language. His love of Hellenic culture is amply demonstrated by his commissioning of numerous beautifully illuminated manuscripts in Greek (over six hundred were recorded in his library), but he probably relied on friends like Angelo Poliziano to reveal their treasures. (See E. B. Fryde’s “Lorenzo’s Greek Manuscripts, and in Particular His Own Commissions,” in Lorenzo the Magnificent: Culture and Politics.)
† Alberti came from an aristocratic family but poverty forced him to earn his wages as a secretary in the papal curia.
* The all-male societies could also provide opportunities for homosexual activity. In 1469, for instance, three men were expelled from the flagellant company of San Paolo “because they were condemned by the office of sodomy” (see Michael Rocke’s Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence, chapter 9).
* The most significant conflict between Florence and the pope was the so-called War of the Eight Saints (1375–78). Often the pope’s spiritual powers were more devastating than his armies. By excommunicating the citizens and placing their city under interdict, the pope could subject Florentine businessmen throughout Christendom to the threat that their property would be confiscated.
* Antonio Beccadelli’s The Hermaphrodite is filled with references to well-known scholars who seduced and even raped their students. See especially his screeds against “the pederast Mattia Lupi.”
* This is the contention of Hugh Ross Williamson in Lorenzo the Magnificent. For an illuminating discussion of the larger topic see Rocke, Forbidden Friendships.
* Lorenzo once wrote, “The defect which is so common among women and which makes them insupportable is their affectation of understanding everything”(see Williamson, 92).
† Though Florentine democracy was more restrictive than ours in the sense that it denied the franchise to many of its inhabitants—including the unskilled laborers who made up a majority of the population—in some ways it was more inclusive. Those with full citizenship, including many artisans and shopkeepers, were actually expected to participate in their own government, sitting on some of the many committees and assemblies that met in the Palace of the Priors. Florentines were not content to vote once every two years and allow their elected representatives to make decisions for them. Even when a citizen was not serving in elected office, he could be certain that among his friends and neighbors were many in a position to affect his life for good or ill. One peculiarity of the political system that had evolved in the Middle Ages was its reliance on election to office by lot. Periodic “scrutinies” were used to determine all those citizens eligible for office. These names were then placed in purses and drawn at random when an office needed to be filled. Terms for the most important offices were made deliberately brief so that no one could accumulate too much power—for the Signoria, the chief executive, only two months. It was a system that guaranteed that each citizen would hold many offices during his lifetime. The Medici controlled the system largely by screening the names of those entered into the electoral purses and removing those they deemed untrustworthy. (See Note on the Government of Florence for further discussion, also Chapters V and IX.)
* Ficino’s natural kindness made him a less than astute judge of character. Two of his regular correspondents, Francesco Salviati and Jacopo Bracciolini, later became involved in a plot to murder Lorenzo. This lapse seems to have led to a temporary chill in their relationship (see later).
* This was particularly true after 1454 when Cosimo engineered the Peace of Lodi, which turned Milan from a perennial threat into Florence’s most stalwart ally.
* The crisis of 1458 never seriously threatened Cosimo’s regime but he used the fear of instability to reform the electoral system.
* Of the republican communes that had arisen in northern and central Italy during the Middle Ages, few now remained. Milan had succumbed first to the Visconti and now to the Sforza; Ferrara and Modena to the Este; Mantua to the Gonzaga; Urbino to the Montefeltro. Only Venice and Florence retained the republican forms of government they had inherited from a more democratic age.
† Palla Strozzi h
ad been a stalwart of the Albizzi regime and was exiled by Cosimo in 1434. He was also a patron of the arts to rival Cosimo himself, commissioning, among other works, the famous Strozzi altarpiece by Gentile da Fabbriano. Interestingly, the subject of the painting (completed in 1423) is the Adoration of the Magi, the same story favored by the Medici themselves. The pageantry of Gentile’s work, which now hangs in the Uffizi, served as a model for subsequent versions, including Gozzoli’s fresco in the Medici palace.
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