The Cultural Patronage of the De' Medici

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how in the early 15th century, the city of Florence took cultural command of Italy and inaugurated the Renaissance, a period highlighted by great achievements in the arts and architecture. It looks at how the Medici, bankers to all of Europe, became such lavish patrons of the arts that to this day the name of Medici connotes any generous patron of the fine arts and thus, the history of Florence cannot be separated from the House of the Medici.

From the Paper:

"Scarcely any great architect, painter, sculptor, philosopher or humanist scholar was unknown or unaffected by the power and influence of the Medici family. Cosimo de' Medici began the first public library since the ancient world (comparable to that at Alexandria), and it has been estimated that in the course of thirty years that Cosimo de' Medici and other members of his family spent almost $20,000,000 for manuscripts and books, a clear indication of the financial power behind the establishment of humanism in the Renaissance era. However, Cosimo de' Medici, always the careful businessman with a keen eye for what was truly beautiful and worth supporting, was not sentimental about his endowment of art and scholarship, for he once stated that his good works were "not only for the honor of God but (also) for my own remembrance." "

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