Medici

The Medici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. The family produced three popes, numerous rulers of Florence, and later members of the French royalty.

Art and architecture

The most significant accomplishments of the Medici were in art and architecture, within which the portfolio of talent employed by Medici is a "Who's Who?" of Renaissance art and architecture. Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, the first patron of art in the family, aided Masaccio and ordered the reconstruction of the Church of San Lorenzo. Cosimo the Elder's notable artistic associates were Donatello and Fra Lippi. The most significant addition to the list over the years was Michelangelo, who produced work for a number of Medici, beginning with Lorenzo the Magnificent. In addition to commissions for art and architecture, the Medici were prolific collectors and today their acquisitions form the core of the Uffizi museum in Florence.

Related Topics:
Art - Architecture - Masaccio - Church of San Lorenzo - Cosimo the Elder's - Donatello - Fra Lippi - Michelangelo - Lorenzo the Magnificent - Uffizi

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In architecture, the Medici are responsible for some notable features of Florence, including the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens, and the Belvedere.

Related Topics:
Architecture - Uffizi Gallery - Pitti Palace - Boboli Gardens - Belvedere

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• Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici personally commissioned Brunelleschi to reconstruct the Church of San Lorenzo in 1419.
• Cosimo the Elder also commissioned Brunelleschi to finish the uncompleted dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The dome, the largest in the world at that time, was finished in 1436.
• Eleonora of Toledo, wife of Cosimo I the Great, purchased Pitti Palace from Buonaccorso Pitti in 1550.
• Cosimo I the Great patronized Vasari who erected the Uffizi Gallery in 1560 and founded the Academy of Design in 1562.
• Marie de Medici, widow of Henri IV and mother of Louis XIII, is used by Peter Paul Rubens in 1622-23 as the subject in his oil painting Marie de' Medici, Queen of France, Landing in Marseilles.