Lucrezia Tornabuoni

Portrait of Domenico Ghirlandaio

Lucrezia Tornabuoni (born June 22, 1425 in Florence , † March 25, 1482 ibid) was an Italian poet, also important as the wife of the banker and Florentine politician Piero di Cosimo de 'Medici .

Life

origin

Lucrezia was born as the daughter of Francesco di Simone Tornabuoni (1377-1436) and his second wife Nanna di Niccolo di Luigi Guicciardini († 1446). Francesco di Simone Tornabuoni was married to Selvaggia Alessandrini (* after 1384; † 1410) in his first marriage since 1400. In 1411 he married his second wife. Since Lucrezia was not born until 1425, her mother must have been Nanna di Niccolo di Luigi Guicciardini, although some sources point to Selvaggia Alessandrini. Her brother was the merchant, banker and long-time director of the Medici Bank Giovanni Tornabuoni (* December 22, 1428, † April 17, 1497).

As early as the 13th century, the Tornabuoni renounced all the privileges of a noble family in order to be elected as simple citizens in the Signoria of Florence. However, in their elitist consciousness they felt obliged to continue to support the church financially and to promote scholars and artists. The Florentines still commemorate the once influential family with the street “Via de 'Tornabuoni” in the old town. The frescoes for the Capella Tornabuoni in the Church of Santa Maria Novella , created by Domenico Ghirlandaio between 1485 and 1490 , were financed by Lucrezia's brother Giovanni. Giovanni was the treasurer of Pope Sixtus IV and headed the Medici Bank branch in Rome from 1465 before he was promoted to the bank's management in 1484.

Marriage, family and offspring

On June 3, 1444, Lucrezia Tornabuoni and Piero de 'Medici married in Florence, keeping her maiden name in order not to forfeit any of the validity and prestige of a Tornabuoni as the wife of a Medici . As a member of the nobility, she significantly enhanced the prestige of the bourgeois Medici through her marriage.

Piero's father Cosimo de 'Medici had originally tried to marry his son to the daughter of Francesco Guido, the Count of Poppi. After this project failed, Piero, who was already suffering from gout, sought the beautiful and spirited Lucrezia from 1443, whose family had only been on friendly terms with the Medici until then.

The marriage between Lucrezia and Piero was happy. Lucrezia proved to be a faithful and wise companion of her energetic and state-wise husband, who, however, became bitter at the end of his life because of his illness and invalidity. Like most contemporary, noble and bourgeois women in Italy, she acted behind the scenes and is described as a wise, pious woman who combined high intelligence with domestic virtues and warmth of heart.

Lucrezia Tornabuoni and Piero de 'Medici have the following children:

• Bianca de 'Medici (born September 10, 1445 in Florence, † April 1488), was married to Guiglielmo Pazzi (1437-1516) since 1458, whose family was exiled from Florence after the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478.
• Lucrezia, called Nannina, de 'Medici (born February 14, 1448 in Florence; † March 14, 1493) was married to the humanist Bernardo Rucellai (1449-1514) since June 8, 1466 .
• Lorenzo the Magnificent (born January 1, 1449 in Florence, † April 8, 1492 in Florence), was married to Clarice Orsini (1453-1488) since 1469 .
• Giuliano I. de 'Medici (born March 25, 1453 in Florence, † April 26, 1478 in Florence - as a victim of the Pazzi conspiracy ), his son Giulio (1478–1534), born posthumously by Fioretta Gorini, was named Clement VII in 1523 . Pope. Botticelli used the facial features of Fioretta and Giuliano on his painting " Venus and Mars ", created in 1483
• two other children (born after 1453) who died as small children
• In addition, Lucrezia Tornabuoni Maria, her husband's illegitimate daughter, raised her biological children. Maria de 'Medici (1445–1474) married Leonetto de' Rossi and became the mother of the future Cardinal Luigi de 'Rossi (1474–1519).

Because of their unstable health on both sides, Piero and Lucrezia made a conscious decision not to want any more children after the death of their two youngest children. Lucrezia took care of the upbringing and education of her children and later supervised the upbringing and education of her grandchildren. She made sure that after the death of her daughter Maria and her son Giuliano, their children Luigi de 'Rossi and Giulio de' Medici grew up in the household of their eldest son Lorenzo. Following their advice, Lorenzo de 'Medici decided for an ecclesiastical career for his two foster sons and his second biological son Giovanni (1475-1521), who in 1513 became Pope under the name of Leo X.

The descendants of Lucrezia Tornabuoni include Popes Leo X and Clement VII, as well as Pope Leo XI. as well as the French queens Catherine and Maria de 'Medici . The dukes and grand dukes of Tuscany from 1531 to 1737 are also descendants of Lucrezia Tornabuoni.

Political activities

After the failure of the 1465/66 uprising directed against the Medici rule by Luca Pitti (1398-1472), Diotisalvi Neroni (1401-1482), Niccolò Soderini and Angelo Acciaioli di Cassano († after 1467), the latter tried in 1467 in Rome Support for the insurgents. For this reason, Piero de 'Medici sent his wife to Rome to promote the Medici cause. She was housed in the house of her brother Giovanni, who had headed the Roman branch of the Medici Bank since 1465. From here she should also look for a suitable bride for Lorenzo. Although Acciaioli followed Lucrezia's activities in Rome with suspicion and acted against them, she was able to win over Cardinal Latino Orsini from the branch of the Lords of Braccianto for the cause of the Medici. Lucrezia convinced the cardinal that his niece Clarice would be the suitable wife for her son Lorenzo.

She saw Clarice for the first time in St. Peter's Church in Rome and got a very good impression of her. She wrote to her husband about the daughter of Jacopo Orsini, the Lord of Monterotondo, and his wife Maddalena Orsini, the cardinal's sister: “The girl is more of medium height and has pure skin and pleasant manners. She may not be as beautiful as our daughters, but she looks very humble. She is not a blonde, there are no such girls here. Her thick, dark hair has a reddish tinge. Your face is quite round, but not in such a way that it bothers you. The neck is quite nice, if rather thin, or, one should say, delicate. I couldn't see her breasts because they are completely covered here, but as far as I could see they are well formed. The hands are very long and slender. On the whole, the girl seems well above average. But you can't compare them with Maria, Lucrezia and Bianca. "

Piero agreed to Lucrezia's choice. Not only was the bride rich, she also offered the possibility of an alliance with a family of the Roman aristocracy. The alliance between the two families proved to be advantageous for both families in the 15th and 16th centuries, so that several more marriages were concluded between members of the two families in the future. However, part of the Florentine families did not approve of this marriage, as it was not the custom to marry a "strange" girl. Nonetheless, Piero and Lucrezia stuck to their plan, as Lorenzo's marriage to a local girl would have caused hostility and discord within the urban upper class. The marriage between Lorenzo and Clarice was concluded in Pisa on December 10, 1468 in the absence of both partners.

In order to reconcile the Florentines with his marriage, Lorenzo organized a tournament on February 7, 1469 in the Piazza Santa Croce, which was noted throughout Italy. The young Medici dressed at the tournament in the colors of his childhood sweetheart, the Florentine girl Lucrezia Donati (1450–1501), whom he had made queen of the tournament. Clarice herself did not arrive in Florence until June 4, 1469, after she was picked up from Rome by her brother-in-law Giuliano. Lorenzo did not travel to Rome on the advice of his parents, as the political situation was too dangerous for him.

After the death of her husband Piero on December 3, 1469, but especially in the weeks after the Pazzi conspiracy of April 26, 1478, Lucrezia asserted herself as Lorenzo's most important adviser. After the death of his mother († March 25, 1482), Lorenzo wrote to the Duke of Ferrara that he had "drowned in sorrow" and had not only lost his mother, but "his only refuge in many hardships and the refreshment of all his troubles" . Lorenzo was also warned "to beware of conspiracies now that your mother can no longer protect you from the way she used to do" .

Social relevance

Lucrezia Tornabuoni is portrayed as a musically educated, deeply religious woman who combined style and custom. She gathered artists under the protection of the Medici and promoted them, including Angelo Poliziano , who taught her grandchildren, and even the mocking free spirit Luigi Pulci .

Although Piero de 'Medici only exercised political power in Florence from 1464 to 1469, more literary gatherings took place in these five years than in the thirty years of Cosimo the Elder's reign. This was mainly due to Lucrezia Tornabuoni, who was one of the first to demand that women of the Florentine oligarchy have the same rights and freedoms as men and who finally managed to involve these women more actively in cultural life.

Her protégé, the humanist Girolamo Benivieni , tried to persuade Lucrezia to adopt measures to preserve custom and morality, since in his opinion Florence was like a second Sodom. Benivieni's claim was a hidden general criticism of the rampant love life of the young upper class. But it was also intended as an open, personal warning to Lucrezia, since her sons and their affairs with married women and unmarried girls caused a lot of talk in the city and caused displeasure in some families. Benivieni also criticized Lucrezia's tolerance of homosexuals, such as her nephew Leonardo Tornabuoni. Despite these warnings, Lucrezia stuck to her tolerant attitude, but asked her relatives and protégés to maintain the necessary discretion and to meet the wishes and obligations of their families.

In contrast to her sons Lorenzo and Giuliano, who openly displayed their wealth, Lucrezia valued noble restraint in the sense of Cosimo and Piero de 'Medici. Lorenzo and Giuliano, however, put on a lot of brilliant tournaments. They offered the citizens of Florence lavish and splendid celebrations, so that the curiosity of the masses was satisfied. At the same time they aroused resentment and envy of the other rich families, especially the Pazzi and Soderini , whose wealth was comparable to the Medici, but who shied away from the enormous expenses for the same splendor and open competition. Lucrezia's warnings went unheeded by her sons, so that the discontent of parts of the oligarchy in 1478 erupted in the Pazzi conspiracy. Like her father-in-law and her husband, Lucrezia stood up for the support of those in need. The alms were supposed to be financed from the profits of the merchants.

Artistic work

Poet and letter writer

Lucrezia Tornabuoni herself wrote some sonnets that have come down to us, as well as sacred canzonets . She was also one of the most recognized poets of her time. Her verses were written in folk Italian instead of stiff Latin, for which she was praised and admired by her humanistic protégés. This enabled her to successfully assert herself against the prejudice that women are not capable of creative spiritual gifts. Their humanistic protégés saw in the achievements of Lucrezia Tornabuoni the view of the Florentine novelist and poet Fraco Sacchetti (1335–1400), who thought as early as the 14th century that “the female mind is sharper and faster than the male” .

Their literary interpretations of biblical characters have also been preserved. Furthermore, 49 letters from her dating from 1449 to 1478 have been preserved, which today are of enormous cultural and historical value, as Lucrezia described in her letters on the one hand the mentality of the commercial oligarchy and on the other hand she was an expert in politics, accounting, philosophy and classical literature revealed.

Patroness

Lucrezia's favorite painter was Sandro Botticelli , to whom she not only awarded many commissions herself, but also arranged commissions. Botticelli painted his “ Adoration of the Magi ” in 1469 , in which he glorified not only the Holy Family, but also the Medici. As early as 1465, Piero de 'Medici commissioned Botticelli, who at that time was still an assistant in Filippo Lippi's workshop, to create the painting “Madonna des Magnisficat”, on which the beauty of Lucrezia's facial features was immortalized and on which her sons Giuliano and Lorenzo (in profile ) can be seen as angels. After the Pazzi conspiracy of April 26, 1478, which led, among other things, to the murder of her youngest son Giuliano and her nephew Leonardo Tornabuoni, Botticelli painted the hanged conspirators Francesco de 'Pazzi and the archbishop Salviati with their heads down, as they were of his opinion after not being punished brutally enough. Lucrezia Tornabuoni and Lorenzo de 'Medici thanked Botticelli personally and paid him forty guilders for each of the two pictures.

In addition to Botticelli, Lucrezia and Piero valued the painter Filippo Lippi , whose main work was created in Prato, but who often worked in Florence. Lucrezia made it possible for Lippi's son Filippino to train in Botticelli's workshop in 1472 , which Botticelli had led since 1470 thanks to the support of the Medici.

Another painter who was supported by Lucrezia or the Tornabuoni was Domenico Ghirlandaio , of whom unfortunately only his late work from 1480 to 1490 has survived. His frescoes of the Capella di Santa Fina in the collegiate church in San Gimigniano, created around 1475, are an exception.

After Piero's death († December 3, 1469), Lucrezia Tornabuoni commissioned Verrocchio to honor her husband with a worthy tomb. Verrocchio's pupil at the time was Leonardo da Vinci, who, on the advice of his stepmother Francesca, tried in vain to receive support from Lucrezia through Botticelli, who was on friendly terms with him. Leonardo da Vinci did not succeed, mainly because Verrocchio needed his pupil, because he was busy working on his painting " Baptism of Christ " in the early 1470s . Therefore he prevented his most important student Leonardo from getting an audience with Lucrezias and possibly becoming independent through their financial donations. Through the mediation of his friend, Lucrezia's nephew Leonardo Tornabuoni (1452–1478), da Vinci finally got the attention of the coveted patron. She brokered a commission from the Portuguese king who wanted to have the fall of man represented artistically. Leonardo never completed the work, however, he despised “original sin”, understood that God drove the first people out of paradise and was therefore not able to carry out his commission with skillful mastery.

Lucrezia promoted destitute poets like Luigi Pulci , who was considered her house poet for many years and who taught her daughters and sons in literature and philosophy. Luigi Pulci's ability to recite verses at societies was also valued by making fun of the solemn seriousness of the "Platonic Academy". She hired Christoforo Landini to bring up her children. In 1473 Lucrezia made sure that Angelo Poliziano was accepted into the household of her son Lorenzos in order to raise his children according to humanistic values. However, this led to conflicts with her daughter-in-law Clarice Orsini , who insisted on a traditional education for her children.

Art collector

After the death of Pope Paul II († 1471), Lucrezia acquired his rich collection of precious stones. Lucrezia was so enthusiastic about her diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds that she began to neglect “her” painters and sculptors and instead turned her attention to collecting more stones. Despite her new passion, she remained connected to “her” poets and thinkers. The beneficiaries of her passion were jewelers, goldsmiths and silversmiths, whom she commissioned to create settings for the gemstones or to implement their own ideas. Lucrezia's collection was unique at the time; no other family or institution possessed such a valuable treasure. Since Lucrezia made sure that all items in her collection were recorded, registered and described, the items stolen from her collection in 1494 could be re-acquired by the Grand Dukes in the 16th and 17th centuries.

literature

• Marcel Brion: The Medici - A Florentine Family. 9th edition. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-55023-4 .
• James Cleugh: The Medici - Power and Splendor of a European Family. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-155-4 .
• Franco Cesati: The Medici - The History of a European Dynasty. La Mandragora, Florence 1999, ISBN 88-85957-39-0 .
• Paul Frischauer ; Leonardo da Vinci - The life of a genius. 5th edition. Ullstein Buchverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-548-22871-2 .
• Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963.
• Tim Parks: Medici Money. 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-442-15526-2 .
• Mario Scalini: The collection from the beginning to the expulsion of the Medici from Florence. In: Cristina Acidini Luchinat (Ed.): The treasures of the Medici. Prestel Verlag, Munich / New York 1997, ISBN 3-7913-1845-4 .
• Ingeborg Walter : The Magnificent - Lorenzo de 'Medici and his time. Piper Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-492-24204-9 .
• Lexicon of Painting. Unipart Verlag, Remseck near Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8122-3392-4 .

Web links

Commons : Lucrezia Tornabuoni  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lucrezia Tornabuoni. at: ancestry.com
2. ↑ Quote from James Cleugh: The Medici - Power and Splendor of a European Family. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1996, p. 119.
3. ↑ Quote from James Cleugh: The Medici - Power and Splendor of a European Family. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1996, p. 171.
4. ↑ Quote from James Cleugh: The Medici - Power and Splendor of a European Family. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1996, p. 171.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures. Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 23.
6. ^ Paul Frischauer : Leonardo da Vinci - The life of a genius. 5th edition. Ullstein Buchverlag, Berlin 1997, p. 139.
7. ↑ Quote from James Cleugh: The Medici - Power and Splendor of a European Family. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1996, p. 171.
8. ^ Paul Frischauer: Leonardo da Vinci - The life of a genius. 5th edition. Ullstein Buchverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-548-22871-2 , p. 176.
9. ^ Paul Frischauer: Leonardo da Vinci - The life of a genius. 5th edition. Ullstein Buchverlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 140/141.