The Italian Renaissance | The Florence of Lorenzo de’ Medici (Lecture 12)

The Italian Renaissance | The Florence of Lorenzo de’ Medici (Lecture 12)

Lecture 12: Despite the republican constitution of Florence, Lorenzo was born, in effect, a Renaissance prince.

His father and grandfather had managed the state, using the Medici faction and their enormous wealth as instruments for control.

Only 20 in 1469, when his father, Piero, died, Lorenzo was thrust into the political and diplomatic currents of the peninsula at a moment of general peace, leaving him free to engage in his true interest, the patronage of art and literature.

As a collector, he filled the huge palace built by his grandfather with ancient sculpture, rare gems, and objets de vertu; he supported such poets as Poliziano and such philosophers as Pico della Mirandola; he discovered the genius of the young Michelangelo and patronized Botticelli.

His own talents as a poet, diplomat, and statesman were such that he had little difficulty maintaining his control of the fractious Florentines.