The Medici – Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance

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John Elliot also famously claimed that following the discovery Europe was unable to comprehend the magnitude of the event and as a consequence developed its responses gradually. It demonstrates that transformations ensued as more information reached Florence but also makes clear that the process of integrating the novelty of the Americas was not consistent.

In later years as grand duke, Ferdinando sought to develop real economic ties to the Americas by fostering commercial relations with Brazil. She was married to Henri, the son of France’s Francois I, and was expelled from her home in Florence. I particularly liked the many scenes of manly cloaked figures riding their horses full tilt across the Tuscan countryside.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. When part-time model and full-time prostitute Luciana Vetra is asked by one of her most exalted clients to pose for a painter friend, she doesn’t mind serving as the model for the central figure of Flora in Sandro Botticelli’s masterpiece, Primavera. By the author’s line of thought, then by all means Michelangelo ought not to have been a repressed homosexual since his David didn’t depict the features that Donatello’s did, which was claimed to be a permeation of his sexuality into his art. Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Reunion Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (U.Compared to the High Renaissance style attributed to painters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli’s style appears to be from an earlier time. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Amid the glittering fêtes and banquets of the most immoral court in sixteenth-century Europe, the reluctant bride becomes a passionate but unwanted wife. Not knowing where to start I surfed the net and to my utter surprise I found a dearth of books on the Medici (for non academics).

In the only full-length art-historical survey to examine European representations of the Americas, Hugh Honour more than four decades ago wrote that “no hunters after curiosa were more avid collectors of Mexican objects than the Medici in Florence. Realising her weakening power over her sickly son, King Charles, Catherine persuades him of a plot against his life. And we desperately need more work, popularising the Medici, truly the godfathers of the Rinascimento. And unlike other European princes and dukes of the sixteenth century, they also commissioned drawings, frescoes, panel paintings, and tapestries representing the Americas.For instance, in the 1570s Francesco de’ Medici commissioned court artist Jacopo Ligozzi to create naturalistic works on paper to document the plants and animals from the New World entering the court. Botticelli lived all his life in the neighborhood in Florence that he grew up in, only leaving Florence to paint in Pisa in 1474 and in the Sistine Chapel in Rome in 1481-82.

By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. In Episode 2 of Season 1 of Medici, we also meet Filippo Brunelleschi, famous for figuring out how to add the dome to the iconic Santa Maria del Fiore that dominates the skyline of Florence to this day. Gloriously fresh and vivid, with a deliciously irreverent heroine, The Botticelli Secret is an irresistible blend of history, wit, and suspense. A dazzling piece of Italian history of the infamous family that become one of the most powerful in Europe, weaving its history with Renaissance greats from Leonardo da Vinci to Galileo. It has always struck me how any layman is acquainted with the term Renaissance and has heard of artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo, and how the Medicis-whose patronage and sometimes protection, enabled Florence to become the centre of the Renaissance-, are barely discussed.I admire both Davids—Donatello’s boyish, relaxed David and Michelangelo’s muscular, steely-eyed David. In spite of this, Ferdinando de’ Medici collected Mexican featherwork and codices and commissioned paintings representing the New World. The costumes are also well done, although occasionally the blow-dried hairstyles of the actors added a jarring bit of anachronism. And so both Catherine and Jeanne's lives are set on unwanted paths, destined to cross in affairs of state, love and faith, driving them to become deadly political rivals. Botticelli immediately invites Simonetta, newly proclaimed the most beautiful woman in Florence, to pose for him.