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Cosimo and Lorenzo de'Medici, CEO's of the Florentine Renaissance

by Isabelle Ghaneh

Meet two of the Renaissance's most powerful chief executive officers, Cosimo and Lorenzo de'Medici. Both Cosimo and his grandson, Lorenzo ruled Florence, Italy, from the beginning to the end of the 15th Century. They owned the Medici Bank, which was bankrolled by the Vatican, the center of power in Italy during the 1400's.

Cosimo, called Pater Patriae (Father of the Country) after his death, was born in 1389 and lived until 1464. Architecture, sculpture, and painting flourished during the "re-birth" of the 1400's, largely dictated by Cosimo's tastes and direction. Under his patronage artists prospered in his city, and it became a Mecca for sculptors, painters, architects, musicians, and poets.

Donato di Niccolo Donatello, the famous sculptor, was one of the most prominent members of the de'Medici 'family' of artisans. Donatello's world renowned sculpture 'David' adorned the courtyard of the de'Medici palace. The sculpture was set in the center of a fountain in the garden of the great Palazzo Medici, which also boasted frescos (paintings on plaster) by Benozzo Gozzoli. Gozzoli was also commissioned by the Medici's to do work for their chapel in the Medici Palace. In one of his frescos, Journey of the Magi, Gozzoli incorporated the image of Lorenzo de'Medici as one of the Magi.

When Cosimo died his grandson Lorenzo began to administer the city. Lorenzo was only 20 when he came to power. He was born in 1449 and died in 1492, the same year that Christopher Columbus was given his mandate to discover the new world by Queen Isabella of Spain. Lorenzo The Magnificent attempted to create a new world in Florence.

Lorenzo followed his grandfather's dictum that as leader he must not only support the city of Florence monetarily and politically, but also artistically. He must show that as one of the leading families of Florence, if not THE leading family, he was wise enough to support the artistic realm.

One day while visiting the studio of Domenico Ghirlandaio, an artisan of the de'Medici family, Lorenzo spotted a young apprentice studying blocks of marble. From the marble, the apprentice constructed an elderly faun, a mythological woodland creature. Lorenzo commented to the young boy that an elderly faun would not have such a fine set of teeth (dentistry not being the prominent profession in the 1400's that it is today). The boy promptly knocked out one of the faun's front teeth. Lorenzo was so impressed by the young man's determination for artistic accuracy that he invited him to join his household---no small feat for a country boy only 13 years old.

This boy, named Michelangelo Buonarroti, later became one of the most noted painters and sculptors of the Renaissance, rivaling Leonardo da Vinci for the title of "Renaissance Artist Second To None". Michelangelo sculpted the Pieta and he painted the Sistine Chapel, lying for four years on his back on a scaffold.

When Lorenzo died his son Pietro took over, but Pietro was a weak and unwise ruler and the de'Medici family was forced into exile. They later returned to prominence in the 1500's and continued to rule, but the golden age of the Medici family under Cosimo and Lorenzo died with them.

References

Durant, W. (1954) The Renaissance, The Story of Civilization. New York: MJF Books

Rowdon, M. (1974) Lorenzo The Magnificent. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company

Internet: http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici

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Isabelle Ghaneh has published poetry in Dimsum, Asia's Literary Journal, Pedestal Magazine, Surface Art Magazine, Pennine Ink, SNReview, The Fairfield Review, EOTU Ezine, The Copperfield Review and The Ridgefield Press; short stories in The Copperfield Review, The Ridgefield Press, The Circle Magazine and silverthought.com; and feature articles in Learning Through History, Art Times, The Blue Review, and The Llewellyn Journal.

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