Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici

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Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici (born August 4, 1463 in Florence , † May 20, 1503 in Florence), called il Popolano since 1494 , was a member of the younger line of the Medici .

Life

origin

Lorenzo was the first son of Pierfrancesco di Lorenzo de 'Medici (1430-1476 / 77) and his wife Laudomia († 1482), a daughter of Agnolo Acciaioli († after 1467), born in Florence.

The family of Lorenzo's mother belonged to the patriciate of Florence, a branch of the Acciaioli ruled the Duchy of Athens from 1388 to 1460 . Agnolo Acciaioli was business partner and political ally of Giovanni di Bicci de 'Medici (1360–1429) and later also supported his son Cosimo (1389–1464). However, he led an uprising against Piero di Cosimo de 'Medici in 1466 and was banished from Florence for life in 1467 after his failure.

Lorenzo's father Pierfrancesco, who sympathized with the frondeurs of 1466, was the only son of Lorenzo di Giovanni de 'Medici (1395-1440) and his wife Ginevra Cavalcanti, who came from the Florentine patriciate. Lorenzo di Giovanni was the younger son of Giovanni di Bicci and the younger brother of Cosimo the Elder and founded the younger line of the Medici.

Lorenzo's younger brother was Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici (1467–1498).

The tutelage of Lorenzo the Magnificent

Pierfrancesco de 'Medici regulated shortly before his death († 1476/77) in his will that after his death the brothers Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492) and Giuliano (1453-1478) from the older Medici line would take over the guardianship of his underage sons Lorenzo and Giovanni received. Lorenzo the Magnificent took over the administration of their inheritance and brought the orphaned relatives a good education. Her teachers included the important Italian humanists Angelo Poliziano and Marsilio Ficino .

Lorenzo the Magnificent had already borrowed large sums of money from Pierfrancesco, which he had not yet paid back when he died. The Pazzi conspiracy of 1478 brought Lorenzo further financial difficulties that he could only overcome by accessing the fortunes of Pierfrancesco's sons. He later forced his wards to provide him with additional sizable amounts of cash. In 1480 the Magnificent owed the brothers Lorenzo and Giovanni tens of thousands of Fiorini. Their financial situation was now also precarious, they could not pay their taxes. However, tax debts in Florence led to exclusion from all public offices and thus to the loss of political power. Ultimately, this led to the rift between Pierfrancesco's sons and their guardian.

In 1484 Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco sued Lorenzo the Magnificent for the surrender of the inherited property. A year later a comparison was made. The court's arbitration forced the Magnificent to leave his property in the Mugello to the sons of Pierfrancesco as compensation for his debts. Lorenzo the Magnificent tried to overcome the family quarrel and therefore engaged his daughter Luisa to Giovanni in 1487. But Giovanni's bride died a few months later, the relationship between Lorenzo the Magnificent and Pierfrancesco's sons remained broken.

Il Popolano

After the death of their former guardian († April 8, 1492), Lorenzo and Giovanni openly confessed against the new ruler of Florence Piero di Lorenzo de 'Medici (1472-1503). On May 14, 1494, they were accused of betraying Charles VIII , King of France, and banished by Piero ; Lorenzo retired to the villa in Castello , Giovanni to the Villa del Trebbio . (As a 20-year-old, Lorenzo, as a Florentine envoy, had assisted at the inauguration ceremony of Charles VIII and used this opportunity to make contacts at the French court.) In the wake of Charles VIII, who had already traveled to Milan (under Ludovico Sforza ) and his army Pavia (under Gian Galeazzo Sforza ), the brothers returned to Florence on November 17, 1494. In order to document, on the one hand, their closeness to the people and, on the other hand, their distance to the politics of the Medici, they changed their family name to Popolani ('the people of the people' or 'well-disposed towards the people'). A few days before the invasion (November 9th) Piero was overthrown and exiled - together with his brothers Giovanni (1475-1521) - later Pope Leo X - and Giuliano (1479-1516) - later Duke of Nemours.

marriage

In 1481 Lorenzo the Magnificent arranged the marriage of his cousin with Semiramide Appiano (* 1464), daughter of Jacopo III. Appiano (1422-1474), Prince of Piombino ; Marriage contract April 1481, marriage on July 19, 1482. She not only brought a lavish dowry (4,000 gold florins) with her, but also created a family connection to the influential Aragonians in Naples. The couple lived in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Via Larga (ht.Via Cavour) in Florence or on the estate in Castello or Villa del Trebbio and had five children: Pierfrancesco (November 22, 1485 - August 1525), Averardo (1488 –1495), Laudomia (1502 marriage to Francesco Salviati), Ginevra and Vincenzo. Semiramide died on March 9, 1523 in Florence.

Portraits

Lorenzo's exterior is known for its depiction in the 1496 oil painting Adoration of the Magi ( Adorazione dei Magi ) by Filippino Lippi and others.

There are also two medals ascribed to Niccolò Fiorentino , both with the inscription LAVRENTIVS • DEMEDICIS • III •: The young Lorenzo is shown a medal in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello , Florence, dated around 1483–88; Bronze. The older Lorenzo shows a medal in the Bibliothèque nationale de France .

Art lover and patron

Like many members of the Medici family, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco also distinguished himself as an art lover and patron. It is not entirely clear who commissioned the famous works of art Primavera ( Allegory of Spring ) and Minerva and Centaur from Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510) (at least the former probably Lorenzo the Magnificent). However, both were intended for the palazzo in Via Larga from the start and hung in the anteroom - apparently dedicated to the bride - to the room of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco: the panel painting Primavera , which was integrated into a pine wood back wall, above a sofa bed ( lettuccio ), which was created later Canvas painting Minerva and Centaur over a door. After Lorenzo's death, both works of art - as well as the large-format Birth of Venus - went to his nephew Giovanni delle Bande Nere and were brought to the Villa di Castello. The cycle of pictures for Dante's Divina Commedia was verifiably created for Lorenzo die Pierfrancesco : a late work by Botticelli, the completion of which was probably prevented by the death of the client.

Other artists and intellectuals also enjoyed Lorenzo's friendship or protection. They thanked him in various ways: the Greek poet Michael "Tarchaniota" Marullus (1453–1500) dedicated his Hymni et Epigrammata , published in 1497, to Lorenzo - just as the politician and historian Bartolomeo Scala (1430–1497) dedicated his (unfinished) story from Florence . The sculptor Michelangelo (1475–1564) created a young St. John for him (around 1495, unfortunately lost or never clearly identified). The explorer Amerigo Vespucci (approx. 1454–1512), a friend since his student days, sent most of his letters from the New World to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco - and dedicated his famous work Mundus Novus (1503–1504) to him. Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici did not see its publication again.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography on the website of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi.
  2. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi.
  3. Fig. S. Site of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi
  4. ^ Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, bronze, 6.7 cm in diameter; Inv no. AV 1224; around 1500. See Andreas Schumacher (Ed.): Botticelli. Portrait - Myth - Devotion. Exhibition catalog. Frankfurt am Main 2009, p. 181.
  5. ibid, pp. 76, 82 and 214
  6. ibid, pages 133, 180 and Fig. 81, page 133
  7. Short biography on the website of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi.