Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici
Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de ' Medici ( * August 4, 1463 in Florence, † May 20, 1503 in Florence), known since 1494 il Popolano, was a member of the younger branch 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 subsidiary of Agnolo Acciaioli ( † after 1467 ), born in Florence.
The family of Lorenzo's mother belonged to the nobility of Florence, a branch of Acciaioli reigned from 1388 to 1460 in the Duchy of Athens. Agnolo Acciaioli was a business partner and political ally of Giovanni di Bicci de ' Medici (1360-1429) and supported later by his son Cosimo ( 1389-1464 ). However, he led in 1466 to the uprising of the Florentine patricians against the rule of Piero de ' Medici and was banned for life from Florence to its failure in 1467.
Lorenzo's father Pierfrancesco, who sympathized with the Frondeuren of the year 1466, was the only son of Lorenzo di Giovanni de ' Medici ( 1395-1440 ) and his wife Ginevra Cavalcanti, who came from the Florentine patricians. 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 guardianship of Lorenzo the Magnificent
Pierfrancesco de ' Medici regulated shortly before his death († 1476/77 ) last will and testament, that after his death the brothers Lorenzo the Magnificent ( 1449-1492 ) and Giuliano ( 1453-1478 ) from the elder branch of the Medici, the guardianship of his minor sons Lorenzo and Giovanni receive. Lorenzo the Magnificent took over the management of their heritage and granted the orphaned relatives a good education. So was one of their teachers, the great Italian humanist Angelo Poliziano and Marsilio Ficino.
Lorenzo the Magnificent had already borrowed large sums of money at Pierfrancesco that he had not yet repaid at his death. The Pazzi conspiracy of 1478 brought Lorenzo further financial difficulties he could overcome only by accessing the assets of the sons Pierfrancescos. Later he forced his wards to provide him with more substantial amounts of cash available. In 1480 the Magnificent Lorenzo owed the brothers Giovanni and tens of thousands Fiorini. Their financial situation was also precarious now, they could not pay their taxes. Tax liabilities resulted in Florence but to the exclusion from all public offices, and thus to the loss of political power. Ultimately, this was followed by the rift between Pierfrancescos sons and her guardian.
In 1484 Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Lorenzo the Magnificent sued for publishing the inherited wealth. A year later it came to compare. The award of the Tribunal forced the Magnificent, to leave the sons Pierfrancescos to compensate for his debts, his estate in Mugello. Lorenzo the Magnificent strove to overcome family strife and therefore became engaged in 1487 his daughter Luisa with Giovanni. But Giovanni's bride died a few months later, the relationship between Lorenzo the Magnificent and his sons Pierfrancescos remained shattered.
Il Popolano
After the death of her former guardian († April 8, 1492 ) Lorenzo and Giovanni known openly against the new rulers of Florence, Piero de ' Medici ( 1472-1503 ). On May 14, 1494 they were accused and banished by Piero of betrayal of Charles VIII, King of France; Lorenzo retired to the villa in Castello back, Giovanni in the Villa del Trebbio. ( As a 20 -year-old Lorenzo had assists as the Florentine envoy at the ceremony for the inauguration of Charles VIII and used this opportunity to make contacts at the French court. ) In the wake of Charles VIII, who with his army already Milan ( under Ludovico Sforza ) Pavia had subjugated ( Gian Galeazzo Sforza below ), the brothers returned on November 17, 1494 to Florence. To the one hand, on the other hand to document their solidarity to the people their distance from politics of the Medici, they had their family name in Popolani ( the vernacular 'or' the people well disposed ') changed. A few days before the invasion (November 9 ) Piero was overthrown and banished - along with his brothers Giovanni ( 1475-1521 ) - later Pope Leo X. - and Giuliano ( 1479-1516 ) - later the Duke of Nemours.
Marriage
1481 arranged Lorenzo il Magnifico the connection 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. You brought not only a sumptuous dowry ( 4,000 gold florins ), but also created a familial connection to the influential Aragonese in Naples. The couple lived in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Via Larga ( Ht. Via Cavour) in Florence or on the estate in Castello and Villa del Trebbio and had five children: Pierfrancesco II de ' Medici (22 November 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 its representation in the painting Adoration of the Magi ( Adoration of the Magi ) by Filippino Lippi, inter alia, known ( 1496 emerged, oil on wood, 258 x 243 cm. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi ).
In addition, two Niccolò Fiorentino exist attributed medals, both with the inscription LAVRENTIVS DEMEDICIS • • • III: The young Lorenzo shows a medal at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, dated around 1483-88; Bronze. The elder Lorenzo shows a medal at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, Bronze, 6.7 cm in diameter; Inv.-Nr. AV 1224; around 1500.
Art lover and patron
How many members of the Medici family came to the fore Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco also as an art lover and patron. Who Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510), the famous works of art Primavera has commissioned ( Allegory of Spring ) and Minerva and centaur, is not fully understood (at least the former probably Lorenzo il Magnifico ). Both, however, were determined from the beginning for the building in Via Larga and hung in - apparently the bride dedicated - antechamber to the chamber of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco: integrated in a pine wood back wall panel painting Primavera on a sofa bed ( lettuccio ), the resulting later canvas painting Minerva and centaur above a door. After the death of Lorenzo both works of art went - as well as the large-scale Birth of Venus - to his nephew Giovanni delle Bande Nere and were taken to the Villa di Castello. Was demonstrably created for Lorenzo the Pierfrancesco the cycle of paintings for Dante's Divine Comedy: a late work by Botticelli, whose completion was probably prevented by the death of the client.
Other artists and intellectuals enjoyed the friendship and patronage of Lorenzo. They thanked him in various ways: The Greek poet Michael " Tarchaniota " Marullus (1453-1500) dedicated his 1497 published Hymni Lorenzo et Epigrammata - as well as the politician and historian Bartolomeo Scala ( 1430-1497 ) his ( unfinished ) story of Florence. The sculptor Michelangelo (1475-1564) created for him a boy St. John ( 1495, unfortunately, been lost or never clearly identified). The explorer Amerigo Vespucci (approx. 1454-1512 ), friend for study days, sent most of his letters from the New World to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco - and dedicated his famous work Mundus Novus ( 1503-1504 ). However, its publication should not live to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de ' Medici.