The Medici Family of Florence

In the fifteenth century, the Medici family rose to power in Florence from an undistinguished background. Like most of the Renaissance rulers in Italian towns, the Medici became prominent patrons of learning and the arts. In the rapidly expanding cities, the merchant guilds, mendicant orders, and leading families saw patronage as a means of expressing both their growing wealth and power. The arts were good for the cities' economy and prestige, and, for an obscure family like the Medici, such sponsorship increased their personal prestige. In the fifteenth century, "merchants turned into courtiers" (Kempers 15). No matter whether they were particularly interested in scholarship or the arts, the families also began to value patronage because it demonstrated their cultured attitudes. Men like Cosimo de' Medici spent heavily on public works because, according to Leon Battista Alberti, Cicero recommended public giving. The Medici and others after them believed they were emulating noble Romans who, as Cicero told them, had founded the Republic on this public virtue rather than on the desire for private wealth (Stephens 101). But, for all their public giving and personal culture, the majority of the Italian rulers were soldiers and statesmen first. Lorenzo de' Medici, however, was a truly devoted to ideas and literature, and he himself became a fine poet: "Lorenzo was basically an intellectual, and such he remained throughout his life" (Micheletti 20).

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o be a poet, and, though he was never talented himself, he was able to inspire Lorenzo with the appreciation of poetry written in the vernacular--regarded by many as a less than scholarly pursuit (Hook 13). Lorenzo later attended the courses of Cristoforo Landino at the University. Landino lectured on poetry and eloquence, and, like Becchi, he defended the idea of vernacular poetry as a fine art. But Landino also stressed the importance of becoming proficient in Latin as the necessary basis for writing good Italian (Hook 13). In 1461, Lorenzo also began formal studies with an important Greek scholar, Argyropoulous, who also taught at the University. Argyropoulous was the lecturer in Greek and philosophy. After this, Marsilio Ficino, who was to become one of Lorenzo's closest intellectual friends, was also engaged as a tutor for the young man. Ficino and Lorenzo were engaged in the in-depth study of Plato, and their work "had a profound effect on the shaping of the young man's mind" (Hook 14). Ficino, who came to be regarded as "the high-priest of Platonism," was a leader in the new Florentine Neoplatonism, and the ideas he imparted to his pupil were the basis of the revived importance of the Platonic academy that had bee

Category: History - T