 Section 9 of the Medici Volume 1, this is a LibriVox recording, or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Adrian Stevens. The Medici Volume 1 by G.F. Young, Chapter 4, Cosimo, Partipatriae, Part 4. Contemporary Historical Events, 1454 to 1464. The chief historical events in other countries during the last ten years of Cosimo's life were the following. In England, two years after the Hundred Years' War with France had ended, began in 1455 the Wars of the Roses. This kept England in a state of civil war during the next thirty years. As regards the papacy, on the death of Pope Nicholas V in 1455, the pope elected was Calyxtus III. He died in 1458, and was succeeded by the celebrated Enius Silvius Piccolomini, Pius II. The chief episodes of whose life are depicted in the series of fresco pictures by Pinto Riccio in the library of the Cathedral of Siena. This pope paid a visit to Florence in 1460 and stayed with Cosimo in the Medici Palace. In Venice, there came in 1457 the end of the long and glorious 34 years rule of the doge Francesco Foscari, who died in that year. He was the last of her great doges. In France, in 1461, Charles VII, the king placed on the throne by Joan of Arc, died. In the same year that in England Henry VI was dethroned in favour of Edward IV. Charles was succeeded by his cowardly and treacherous son Louis XI, the royal trickster. Detestable, as were his long list of murders, carried out by the most treacherous methods, he brought order out of chaos in France. Art. 1434 to 1464. The 30 years rule of Cosimo shows us the new movement in art, advancing with rapid strides to greater and greater achievements through the genius of Donatello, Fra Angelico, Luca della Robbia, Ghiberti, and Lippi. Donatello. Donatello, the third in age of the four leaders of the Renaissance in art, exercised by far the deepest influence of the four. Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Massaccio each did their part, but Donatello infused a new spirit into the whole matter, breathing into it the breath of life. Sixteen years old when the new movement in art began, and living to the age of 81, he exercised for fifty years the leading influence in the world of art. We have therefore to look at him under two aspects, one as a sculptor and two as a guide to the art world as to the true aim of art. One, Donatello, the first sculptor in the round since the time of Greek art, introduced as greater revolution in sculpture as Giotto did in painting. The nature of this revolution has been well described by a recent writer of his life as follows. Quote, In order to estimate the full significance of the new departure in sculpture inaugurated by Donatello, that sculpturing of isolated statues which had not been attempted since the last artist of antiquity laid down his chisel, it must be borne in mind that for centuries the accepted form for this art had been relief. While also sculpture had not been used as a prime vehicle by itself for conveying the artist's idea, but as an adjunct and ornament to architecture. Thus in Orcagnus' celebrated shrine in Orse and Michel, in honour of the Madonna, we find the Madonna sentiment diffused throughout all its parts. A story is told by a series of reliefs. A character is suggested by carefully thought out arrangement of figures representing the accepted virtues of that character, appropriately placed between those stories which appear to illustrate them. Symbols are freely employed, and even the material and colours, the white marble, spangled with precious stones and mosaics, contribute their qualities to aid in the expression of the ideal associated in the mind of the artist, with the personality of the Blessed Virgin. This was essentially the medieval form of art. Now the genius of classic art was exactly the opposite of this. Where the medieval genius was diffused, the classic genius was concentrated. Where the medieval sculptor flew to symbols to express the internal things of the supernal glory, the sculptor of the classic age choosing the most perfect form in nature, the human, so refined and idealised it, and so transfused it with that spirit and thought desired to be expressed, that it spoke by suggestion to all who had ears to hear. Donatello's predecessors were medieval, one and all. He himself was a scholar in their school, yet when he was only twenty years of age and twelve years before he was admitted as a master in his guild, we see him turn his back on the entire medieval method and choosing the way of antiquity, begin his series of isolated heroic statues. End quote. Thus did Donatello, while still quite young, feel the inspiration of that rebirth in art, which was permeating all Florence. Four years after Gibberty began his first pair of bronze doors, on which Donatello had worked as an assistant, this youth of twenty made that bold and independent return to earlier principles, which marks the true genius. After various statues representing Joshua, Daniel, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Abraham, St. Peter, St. Mark, the marble statue of David and others, all intended to occupy niches on the walls of the cathedral, the Campanile, or the church of Orr, Sam, Shell, Donatello produced in 1416 his St. George, generally considered his masterpiece, which gave him the position of the first sculptor of his time. But Donatello was to go further than this. About the year 1432 he executed for Cosimo his bronze statue of David, and this statue introduced a new era in the art of sculpture, for it was the first isolated nude statue that had been made for more than a thousand years. Even the St. George, besides embodying no attempt to depict the human form undraped, had only been made for a niche, but this statue of David was intended to stand in the courtier of Cosimo's palace and be looked at from every side. This remarkable innovation, as Lord Barcaris justly calls it, advanced Donatello's reputation to a still greater degree than even his St. George had done, having an immediate effect on all the sculptors of his time and spreading Donatello's fame far beyond Italy. Seeing it as we now do in the Museum of the Baghello, surrounded by many others, we are apt to forget the distinguished position which this statue holds as the leader of all that followed it in sculpture. The only others of Donatello's numerous works necessary to notice here are his statue of Judith slaying Holofernes and his medallions copied from antique gems. The Judith was executed, like the David, for the cartel of the Medici Palace and was finished shortly after the family moved into the palace in 1440. The statue had an important history some fifty years later, C. X. The medallions which still remain in excellent preservation over the arches of the cartel are copies in marble of eight antique gems, the subjects being Diomed and the Palladium, Bacchus and Ariadne, Ulysses and Athena, Didalus and Icarus, and four others of minor interest. The original gems were in the Medici Collection. Whether these medallions were completed and placed in position at the time when the palace was first occupied in 1440, as seems most probable, or at a later date in Cosimo's life, is a debated point. Two. But greater still is Donatello's fame as a guide to the aim which art should set before itself. A message which he taught to sculptors and painters alike. Here the two, the aim that artists had striven after, was the production of as lifelike a representation as possible of nature, and this alone they had found difficult enough. Donatello introduced a further step, teaching that form must be a mere means to an end, that of conveying some deep thought to the mind, that art in fact must be a language. The outward rendered expressive of the inward, the body instinct with spirit, the soul-made incarnate, this, which has been said to define truth in art, was in brief Donatello's message to the art world, and it produced the great stride forward which art now took. It was in fact the inauguration of the whole difference between classic and modern art. The former aiming no further than to portray absolute perfection of form, the latter aiming, simultaneously with this, at conveying some message to the mind. It is this characteristic of Donatello's genius which has caused him to be called by his countrymen Il maestro di ci sanno, the master of those who know. His statue of Saint George in which the ideal to which he gives expression is that of the flesh under the dominion of the spirit, is the best example of this characteristic in his art. Donatello also revived a branch of art which had been dead since the time of ancient Rome, that of casting statues and particularly equestrian statues in bronze, a difficult work since all its details had in the course of nine centuries become unknown. In 1453, after many difficulties, he completed for the Venetian Republic the first bronze equestrian statue executed since Roman times, that of the Venetian general Gattimallata at Padua. His works in base relief have also certain characteristics of their own, notably that exceedingly low relief called stiacciato, which he often used with very beautiful effect. Perkins draws attention to his treatment of the hair saying that though the ancient sculptures were unrivaled in their treatment of hair in the abstract, no sculptor, ancient or modern, ever surpassed Donatello in giving it all the qualities of growth and waywardness. To compare Donatello with his great successor Michelangelo is absurd. Donatello's fame is that of the leader of the man who revolutionised sculpture and taught all who came after him what art's true aim should be, and no excellences in Michelangelo or any other successor can touch the point on which Donatello's fame rests. Fra Angelico San Marco not only possessed learned men among its community and a prior who was beloved by all who knew him, but also numbered among its members the greatest painter of the day, Fra Angelico. His earlier paintings are to be seen at Cortana, but in 1437 he began his painting at Florence, being at Cosimo's insistence set to work. As soon as any portions of the new monastery were sufficiently far advanced for the purpose to decorate the walls of the chapter house, cloisters and corridors with his frescoes. Amongst these the large fresco in the chapter house representing the crucifixion, with the sense of the New Testament on one side and the prominent sense of the Middle Ages on the other, was specially ordered by Cosimo who gave much helpful advice in regard to the details. It was one of the first of Fra Angelico's frescoes painted in San Marco. Cosimo also made Fra Angelico paint in the cell which he kept for himself, a fresco picture of the adoration of the Magi, desiring to have this example of Eastern kings laying down their crowns at the manger of Bethlehem, always before his eyes as a reminder for his own guidance as a ruler. From time to time we meet with a master who, having made some line in art specially his own and perfected it to such a point that it is felt that no further advance in that line as possible to man, remains for all time its solitary exponent. Thus thus with Fra Angelico he reigns supreme and alone in that line which he chose, wherein he sought only to express the inner life of the adoring soul. At the same time he was an artist who steadily improved in technical skill and his later paintings show that he had carefully studied the works of Massaccio. Regarding the general style of his painting Mrs. Ady says as follows, All the mystic thought of the medieval world, the passionate love of God and man that beat in the heart of St. Francis, the yearnings of Dante's soul after a higher and more perfect order of things are embodied in the art of Fra Angelico. The brilliancy of colour and richness which he gives in his pictures of angels and heavenly scenes are marvellous. In his picture at Cortona of the Annunciation Fra Angelico's first version of his favourite subject the angels wings are gold tipped with ruby light and his robe is a marvel of decorative beauty studied all over with little tongues of flame and embroidered in mystic patterns. His picture of the coronation of the Virgin is one of the glories of the Louvre and in it he has lavished the richest ornament and the most radiant colour on the angels who stand before the throne each with a spark of fire on his forehead and glittering stars on his purple wings. Ruskin speaking of Fra Angelico's painting from the more technical side remarks as follows. The art of Fra Angelico both in drawing and colouring is perfect and his work may be recognised at any distance by its rainbow play and brilliancy like a piece of opal among common marbles. In order to effect clearer distinction between heavenly beings and those of this world he represents the former as clothed in draperies of the purest colour crowned with glories of burnish gold and entirely shadowless. The flames on their foreheads waving brighter as they move the sparkles streaming away from their purple wings like the glitter of the sun upon the sea while they listen in the pauses of alternate song for the prolonging of the trumpet blast and the answering of the psalm and harp and symbol throughout the endless deep. And from all the starshores of heaven this mode of treatment combined as it is with exquisite choice of gesture and disposition of drapery gives perhaps the best idea of spiritual beings which the human mind is capable of forming. For one other point Fra Angelico's pictures are notable. In them we have for the first time heads full of individual character while he was the first to begin introducing in his pictures portraits of his friends thus doing much to help forward another line in art, portrait painting which a generation later became a recognised branch of painting. In this way he gives us in his picture of the deposition from the cross now in the academia at Florence a portrait of his friend Michelotzo the architect who was being employed by Cosimo in the rebuilding of San Marco. Fra Angelico's period of painting in Florence lasted for nine years 1437 to 1446. In 1446 Pope Eugenius IV having seen so much of his work at Florence summoned him to Rome but that pope died almost immediately afterwards in 1447. However his successor Nicholas V was as previously noted most anxious to inaugurate a new state of things in Rome as regards art. One of his first efforts in this direction after the example of the monastery of San Marco in Florence was to begin covering the walls of the Vatican with frescoes and this was the commencement of that long series of renowned frescoes which added to by pope after pope now formed so large a part of the treasures of the Vatican. Nicholas V began with his private chapel and set Fra Angelico to work to decorate its walls. Thus these frescoes in the chapel of Nicholas V are important both as the first of all the frescoes in the Vatican and also as being Fra Angelico's last work. They took him the greater part of the next five years 1447 to 1452 and these frescoes in particular show how greatly he had profited by careful study of Massaccio's works. For while they still have his own grace and skill in delineating character they are instinct with Massaccio's power. In them we have from Fra Angelico's two portraits of Nicholas V in the two pictures representing Sixtus II AD 257 ordaining the deconsent Lawrence and giving into his charge the treasures of the church Fra Angelico died at Rome in 1455. Simultaneously with the above work in art Nicholas V commenced the formation of a library in the Vatican after the pattern of the Medici Library in Florence and collected a large number of manuscript books and appointed a librarian but the whole was dispersed by his successors and it was not until Sixtus IV that he revived the institution in 1475 that the Vatican Library began its existence. Luca della Robbia Luca della Robbia born in 1400 was employed as a youth on the bronze doors of the baptistry. After a time he began working on his own account and struck out a new line of his own. He executed reliefs in marble in bronze and in glazed terracotta devoting him specially to the varied expressions of the human features and his works by their truth to nature and the deep feeling which they breathe have won for him an honoured place amongst those who gave an impulse to the Renaissance. Speaking of his art generally Miss Crutwell says quote he is first of all the imaginative sculptor and poet who embodied the grandest ideals in forms worthy of Fidean Greece unquote. In 1438 Luca produced his beautiful relief of the Cantoria executed for one of the organ lofts of the cathedral and representing groups of boys and girls singing and little children dancing which at once placed him amongst the foremost artists of his time. This relief in marble from its truth to nature and the grace of movement of its figures was almost as much a wonder to the time as Giberti's first pair of bronze doors had been and had much effect in helping still further forward both sculpture and painting towards a lifelike representation of human figures. It is meant to illustrate the 150th Psalm each of the panels portraying one of the six verses of that psalm. Regarding this magnificent frieze the Marquesa Berlamacci says quote Luca della Robbia's Cantoria children live and move the very action of their throats can be seen as they sing the soul of music is in their faces there is a swing in their movements as they dance a grace of attitude and an elegance of flowing drapery that throughout the works of the Renaissance has never been surpassed end quote Besides the Cantoria Luca della Robbia's other chief works in marble and bronze were the five panels on the north side of the Campanile executed in 1439 representing the development of man's intellect in the arts and sciences. The tomb of Benozzo Federighi Bishop of Fiasol now in the church of Santa Trinita executed in 1454 and by some considered Luca's best work in marble and the bronze doors of the sacristy of the Duomo completed after many years labour in 1469 his works in glazed terracotta will be considered later Chapter 6 Ghiberti in 1452 six years after Brunelleschi had died and Fra Angelico's painting in Florence come to an end Ghiberti at last finished his second pair of bronze doors for the baptistry these which Michelangelo a hundred years later declared fit to be the gates of paradise are considered Ghiberti's masterpiece they represent scenes from Old Testament history and Ruskin remarks the book of Genesis in all the fullness of its incidents in all the depths of its meaning is bound within the leaf borders of the gates of Ghiberti they had taken Ghiberti 28 years he had begun his first pair of doors at the age of 23 he finished his second at the age of 73 and he died three years afterwards accepting his three statues outside or San Michel and one or two minor works these two pairs of bronze doors were his life's work as Alexandra Dumas says a whole life spent over this marvellous bronze the pathos of the young Ghiberti beginning this beautiful work of art when full of youth and strength amidst all the enthusiasm of the first outburst of the Renaissance and finishing it when he was old and worn with years and when so many who had seen its commencement had passed away cannot but touch all who think of it it was another generation who now saw its completion from that which had seen it begun Cosimo himself, now 63 had then been only a boy 13 Fra Angelico 15 Michalotso 11 Luca de la Robbia, a child of a year old Massaccio, the boy who had worked under him had covered himself with glory in another line and was long dead Brunelleschi, his passionate rival had had time to learn another art and to make his name famous therein and was gone of all the band of eager competitors for the work he alone remained as we look at these beautiful doors how many thoughts crowd upon us the terrible sufferings of Florence from the plague which caused their construction the celebrated competition with its intense and passionate rivalry the whole lifetime of work spent in their production all the art life which surged around them as they lay gradually taking shape in the workshop of Ghiberti hard by the place where they have now stood for 450 years the school of art which that workshop began for Florence the band of eager young assistants some of whom had since made their names which are now famous throughout the world the final triumph when they were at last completed the solemn function when they were erected in their place the grey-haired man of 73 bent with age who had begun them in his youth and who had he had another lifetime before him would have destroyed even these and begun yet another effort after something more perfect still the pride of all who had had a part however humble in their production the excitement and rapture of a whole city lastly the many things of which they were the origin and the matrix the sculpture of Donatello the painting of Massaccio and all that grew from these so that we look at Ghiberti's panels we see mirrored in them the triumphs of Raphael and of Michelangelo it is thoughts such as these which force themselves upon our minds stand in the crowded modern thoroughfare with its trams and tourists and life of the Florence of today around us and look at Ghiberti's doors End of Section 9 Section 10 of the Medici Volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adrian Stevens the Medici Volume 1 by G. F. Young Chapter 4 Cosimo Partipatria Part 5 Filippo Libbi in 1441 Filippo Libbi who had been Massaccio's pupil finished his painting of the coronation of the Madonna considered his best picture in Florence a greater contrast could scarcely be found than that between the two chief painters of Cosimo's time Frà Angelico and Filippo Libbi for Libbi was in everything the antithesis of his contemporary Frà Angelico the orphan son of a butcher he was left as a boy in charge of an aunt who, finding him an idol near do well put him as a novice into the nearest monastic community that of the Carmelites in whose church of the Carmine Massaccio was then painting his frescoes the monks owing to his laziness could do nothing with him but watching Massaccio at his work Libbi thought this an easier task than learning to read and write and Massaccio, finding he could draw taught him his art Libbi was 16 when Massaccio died and in the following year Vasari says Libbi boldly threw off the monastic habit and took to painting for a livelihood though he signs himself Frata Filippus he had no right to the term as he had entirely discarded his vows and owing to his disreputable conduct no religious community would own him his life was a disturbed one as his drunken character and constant feuds upon those who employed him caused him to be always in trouble after being several times brought up before the authorities for various misdemeanours at length for a particularly flagrant case of embuzzlement he was flogged Libbi's character however only affect his credit as a painter by counting for the kind of success he achieved he had, as was to be expected no years for the message which Donatello was at this time teaching and consequently his pictures on religious subjects have an exceedingly mundane character nevertheless the sweet seriousness of his Madonna's falls in no way short of those of Fra Angelico and the faces of his children are full of a quaint mischievous character which is delightful while in both drawing and colouring he shows the immense advance which had now taken place in painting and it is here that Libbi's true claim to fame lies Massaccio, the only man who up to that time had found out the true methods of the art of painting had died too soon himself to be able to make known his discovery except to the few who could visit Florence and the Branacci Chapel it was left for Libbi, the rough boy whom he had taught to show the world Massaccio's discovery and Libbi did so Vasari says, taught as he had been by Massaccio he was a faithful follower of Massaccio's style and he adds that he followed the latter's methods so faithfully that it appeared that the spirit of Massaccio had entered Libbi's body thus what Massaccio had done for the art of painting is chiefly to be seen by comparison of Libbi's pictures with those of Massaccio's immediate predecessors the Giottesci Libbi's principal picture in Florence is his Coronation of the Virgin painted for Cosimo and now in the Academia della Belle Arti but his best work is considered to be his frescoes in the Cathedral at Prato painted between 1456 and 1465 a serious error of the last generation has caused much injustice to Massaccio and has been widely spread through Robert Browning's perm on Libbi he makes Libbi speak of Massaccio as a youngster then just learning to paint Libbi's saying that after his death this Guidi may perhaps rob him of his laurels this is owing to Massaccio's date being in Browning's time he imagined to be later than it really is so that Libbi was supposed to have preceded him with the result that Libbi instead of Massaccio gained all the credit of the great advance in painting which exists between the Giottesci and Massaccio the pathos which throughout attaches to Massaccio is thus still further increased not only is he crushed with poverty throughout his life and his great fame only one after death but in addition even those laurels are in later times given to the pupil whom he had out of a rough kindness taught for nothing and then as the crowning point this Tomasso Guidi this great genius who is the founder of all modern painting and from whom even Raphael was glad to learn becomes known to posterity only as clumsy Tom the fuller information now available has put this matter right and more particularly the registers of the Catasto tax for the years 1421 to 1428 which give definite and conclusive evidence as to Massaccio's date and circumstances though even without this Vasari's remark should have sufficed to prevent the mistake Libbi died in 1469 at the age of 57 minor sculptors though the transcendent genius of Donatello threw all others into the shade there were various other distinguished sculptures who also flourished at this period making Cosimo's time especially notable in this branch of art the chief of these were Desiderio da Settinano a pupil of Donatello and eminent among the sculptors of this time Perkins considers his tomb of Carlo Massupini in Santa Croque as one of the three finest tombs in Tuscany while he says of the bust of Marietta Palastrozi quote it would be difficult to point out a bust which more thoroughly combines those peculiar features of the best Quattrocento work high technical excellence refinement of taste delicacy of treatment and purity of design unquote the beautiful head of Saint Cecilia in Stiacciato low relief now the property of Lord Weems which used to be attributed to Donatello is now said to be by Desiderio Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino Bernardo Rossellino executed the fine tomb of Leonardo Brune in Santa Croque and the monument of Beata Villana in the Ruccelli Chapel in Santa Maria Novella of Antonio Rossellino Perkins says quote he possessed grace delicacy of treatment, dignity and a rare feeling of beauty and sweetness of expression as we see in the noble monument of the Cardinal Portagallo at San Miniatto Florence unquote he considers this tomb one of the most beautiful in Italy Mino da Fiesol another still more famous sculptor of this period who outlived those previously mentioned his works show a refined taste great delicacy of detail a much devotional feeling regarding his tomb of Bishop Salutati in the Cathedral of Fiesol Perkins says quote the bust of the bishop is certainly one of the most living and strongly characterized counterfeit presentments of nature ever produced in marble unquote Mino da Fiesol also executed the beautiful tabernacle in the Medici Chapel at Santa Croque and many busts, altarpieces and other celebrated works during the time of Piero Il Gottoso and Lorenzo the Magnificent Antonio and Piero Polagiuolo these two brothers were celebrated sculptors painters, goldsmiths and medalists of the time their renown belongs almost entirely to Antonio his younger brother Piero producing little notable work Antonio's principal existing work in Florence is the silver altar of the baptistry kept in the opera del duomo and in Rome his two tombs of Pope Sixtus IV and Pope Innocent VIII the fine medal of the Pazzi conspiracy hitherto attributed to him is now set to be by Bertoldo the well-known pupil of Donatello Antonio Polagiuolo was no less celebrated as painter than as a sculptor and medalist in 1460 three large and very famous canvases five braccia high, about nine feet were painted by him for the hall of the Medici Palace depicting the combats of Hercules with the lion, with the hydra and with Antias Vasari describes them in detail and speaks with great admiration of their execution when the Medici Palace was sacked in 1494 they were appropriated by the signoria and removed to the council hall of the Palazzo della Signoria where they hung for many years but have since been lost Vasari in mentioning them states that they were painted for Lorenzo the Magnificent but this must be a mistake on his part for in a letter of Polagiuolo's own he states that he painted them in 1460 and at that time Cosimo was head of the house and his grandson Lorenzo a boy of only 11 years old so that they were painted for Cosimo there were two small panel pictures on the same subject by Polagiuolo now in the Uffizi Gallery evidently painted about the same time and these give us an idea of what the celebrated canvases which adorned the walls of the principal reception room of the Medici Palace in the time of Cosimo, Piero and Lorenzo were like Cosimo, 1463 to 1464 Cosimo grew old very rapidly suffering severely from gout and in his later years becoming very infirm which caused him to leave the home affairs of the state to a very large extent to others a condition of things under which we first hear of the incapable Luca Pitti who during the last four years of Cosimo's life thrust himself into a prominent place in public matters though Cosimo still kept foreign affairs in his own hands his long labours for his country's welfare had borne their full fruit none now questioned or attempted to disturb the position he had so deservedly gained to find the signoria in an official document a letter to the Venetian Republic calling him Capo della Repubblica though he held no official position at the time and head of the Republic he was universally acknowledged to be to the very end of his life Giovanni Cosimo, like his father, had two sons Piero, born in 1416 Giovanni, born in 1421 the death of the latter at the age of 42 is the last prominent incident connected with Cosimo's life Giovanni had all the family love of learning and many rare manuscript books collected by him are still in the Medici Library in San Lorenzo his portrait bust by Mino da Fiasola who knew him well gives us a thoroughly reliable representation of his appearance as the chronic ill-health of his elder brother Piero made it unlikely that the latter would survive their father Giovanni was brought up as the future head of the family was looked on by all as his father's successor and was Cosimo's favourite son to a family situated as the Medici were at this time he was of the utmost importance that whoever succeeded Cosimo as head of the house should be both capable and popular so that Cosimo's feeling regarding his two sons was not unnatural nor did Giovanni come short of his father's hopes in this respect his ability, good sense, tact and knowledge of men made him highly popular and he promised to be a worthy successor to Cosimo so as Piero's health grew from year to year worse all the hopes of the family rested on Giovanni the latter was married to Ginevra Degla Albizzi one of that family who had so violently opposed Cosimo in his earlier years and tried to compass his ruin and death Giovanni and Ginevra's only child, a son then nine years old, died in 1461 but alas for human hopes in 1463, one year before Cosimo's own death Giovanni, the hope of the house, died the grief into which the family were plunged at this serious misfortune was very great Cosimo was broken down physically helpless and his death soon to be expected Piero was likely to die any day and his eldest son Lorenzo was only 14 years old so that with Giovanni dead it seemed that all the prospects of the family were destroyed or it was well known that powerful enemies including all those other families jealous of the one which was rising to such eminence were on the watch for an opportunity to bring its power to an end there is a pathetic story of the infirm and aged Cosimo after this death of his favourite son having himself carried through the rooms of the spacious palace which he had built and which had seen two such gaps made in the family years and several times repeating two larger house now for so smaller family Giovanni was buried in the family church of San Lorenzo which was then just finished and had been endowed by Cosimo Giovanni Di Bicci and Piccardo had already been buried in the old sacristy and their grandson, the second Giovanni was now also interned there and when six years later his brother Piero died the sculptor Verrocchio, Donatello's best pupil was called upon to design a joint tomb for the two brothers and executed the very tasteful one which stands in the archway between the sacristy and the chapel of the Madonna consisting of a sarcophagus of porphyry with bronze acanthus leaves climbing over it it is Verrocchio's earliest important work Cosimo, 1464 Cosimo died on the 1st of August, 1464 at his beloved villa of Carracci at the age of 75 Piero, in relating their grandfather's death to his two sons the following day, says as follows quote he counseled me that as you had good abilities I ought to bring you up well and you would then relieve me of many cares he said that he did not wish any pomp or demonstration at his funeral he reminded me, as he had told me before of where he wished to be buried in San Lorenzo and he said all in such an orderly manner and with so much prudence and spirit that it was wonderful he added that his life had been long therefore he was well content to leave it when God willed yesterday morning he had himself completely dressed he then made his confession to the prior of San Lorenzo after which he caused mass to be said making the responses as if he were in health afterwards being asked to make profession of his faith he said the creed word for word said the confession himself and then received the holy sacrament doing so with as much devotion as one can describe having first asked pardon of everyone for any wrongs he had done them which things have encouraged me in my hope towards God unquote Cosimo's popularity with his countrymen lasted to the very end as well as the respect with which he was regarded by the rulers of all other states he was buried as he had desired without any pomp and at first in the old sacristy of San Lorenzo the signoria had planned to give him a magnificent funeral and a very imposing monument but the Medici family on the proposal being put before them refused to have either the people however were determined to give him some special honour a public decree was therefore passed by the signoria conferring on him the title of Paterpatriae and ordering that this should be inscribed by the republic on his tomb it therefore bears the honourable inscription Cosimo's Medici's Hiccitus est Decreto publico Paterpatriae no greater honour could have been done him than that such a title should thus be given him after his death and by this title of Paterpatriae he has ever since been known in history but the honour done to Cosimo's memory was not confined to giving him the title of father of his country a further and more peculiar honour was conferred San Lorenzo founded in such ancient times is the Ambrosian Basilica having beneath its high altar many highly venerated relics of the martyrs and an ancient rule of the Catholic Church prohibited out of reverence thereto the burial of any persons in such basilicas only permitting them to be buried in sacristies or chapels attached to the church and although in special cases persons of importance were allowed to be buried in the vault below the church none so interred were permitted to have a tombstone in the church but their tombstones were required to be placed in the vault there are consequently no tombstones in the pavement of the nave of San Lorenzo except one this solitary exception is in the case of Cosimo Paterpatriae Migliore in his interesting old book entitled Firenza Sita Noblissima 1684 in describing the church of San Lorenzo gives the following account of this matter quote and here is to be seen maintained a most laudable disposition of the cannons of the church especially at the council of Braga Rense held in Portugal under Giovanni III which is not to allow the burial of the dead in the basilica out of reverence to the relics of the blessed martyrs and in accordance with this disposition you find at the foot of the altar in the middle of the pavement placed in the memory of Cosimo Padra della Pateriae the marble memorial in a circle of serpentine and porphyry with the arms of the Medici at the four sides but the body is not in the place which is thus represented but is placed beneath in the vault with all the other personages buried in that church without any description of them in the pavement above them this was a sign of the difference which ought to be maintained between them and him who was like a founder of this church also as a man who much separated from the crowd had no equal in those happy times when the fame of worthy persons travelled upon the wings of fortune so that one who well knew his qualities sums up all by saying after dilating on all that Cosimo did for the Republic and Italy the account concludes by saying after his death the Republic conferred on him the honourable title of Pater Pateriae never before conferred on anyone in that Republic and rarely even in that of Rome and this was accompanied by extraordinary pomp at the sole cusp of the Republic in transferring his body to this sepulchre which brought to mind that given to Fabius Maximus and if we penetrate into the vault below we find in what a peculiar way this special honour to Cosimo was carried out evidently the Florentines were determined to do nothing by halves in the matter for instead of finding as we should have expected a sarcophagus with Cosimo's name on it placed in the vault underneath the memorial slab in the pavement of the church we find immediately below the porphyry slab a large square pillar of about eight feet on each side extending right up to the floor of the church above and having on it only the Medici arms and one short Latin inscription of five words simply stating that Piero has placed this to the memory of his father this pillar is Cosimo's tomb his own name does not appear on it at all that is borne by the porphyry slab above the whole being thus joined together in one monument it was an honour never then or afterwards accorded to anyone else in Florence and thus is Cosimo after all in reality buried in front of the high altar of San Lorenzo an immense amount has been written on Cosimo's character and as usual in the case of the Medici the most violently opposite views have been enunciated those with whom the name of Medici overthrows or balance can see in him no virtues thus even a comparatively temperate writer like Simmons who is far surpassed by others on that side calls Cosimo a cynical self-seeking bourgeois tyrant but Simmons would have found it hard to substantiate his string of epithets out of the facts of Cosimo's life other writers declare that every seeming virtue in Cosimo was assumed for some unworthy end but there are many facts of Cosimo's life which declined to accord with this assertion nor had it been true called Marsilio Vicino have written I owe to Plato much to Cosimo no less he realised for me the virtues of which Plato gave me the conception Simmons and other writers accuse Cosimo of having undermined the liberties of Florence but the changes introduced by him in the form of the Constitution were few and unimportant the truth was that Florence notwithstanding her republican forms had never really possessed freedom and that the people wereied of perpetual dissensions strife, banishments and the losses which these entailed welcomed the stable and efficient government which Cosimo gave them had it not been so his rule resting solely on popularity would promptly have been terminated there was however in Florentine politics a Medician party and an anti-Medician party and the latter put forward assertions quite regardless of whether these had any solid basis which in later times have formed the ground of unbalanced judgements and exaggerated statements which have been repeated by one writer after another as though they expressed the acknowledged verdict of history and at the hands of such writers Cosimo has fared ill indeed his arduous labours for the welfare of the state and people have been declared due solely to personal ambition the farsighted statesmanship by which he managed to control for so long a period the destinies of his country and to guide her affairs with such success has been declared to have been merely a crafty plan pursued with the utmost dissimulation to pave the way towards the destruction of the republic deeds of his done purely for the benefit of the people have been either dismissed as of little importance or else attributed to sinister motives Lastly even the title placed upon his tomb by his countrymen has been represented as a mere empty compliment though compliments are seldom thought necessary when the person no longer survives to hear them all this however involves the assumption that an exceptionally quick-witted race especially on the watch against attempts to steal away their independence should in this one instance and throughout so long a period of 30 years have displayed a want of discernment at variance with all their history Machiavelli's estimate of Cosimo is as follows quote he was one of the most prudent of men grave and courteous and a venerable appearance his early years were full of trouble exile and personal danger but by the unweary generosity of his disposition he triumphed over all his enemies and made himself most popular with the people though so rich yet in his mode of living he was always very simple and without ostentation none of his time had such an intimate knowledge of government and of state affairs hence even in a city so given to change he retained the government for 30 years unquote unwearyed generosity of disposition exactly expresses the general idea which is given us by the facts of Cosimo's life as the most prominent feature of his character and setting aside or testimony of writers on the one side or the other the indisputable benefits which he conferred on his country the end which he put to faction fighting which sapped Florence's strength the prosperity and the contentment which he secured for the people the relief from taxation which he brought about by the effects of his enlightened foreign policy and lastly the general character associated with his memory in the minds of the common people of Tuscany all go to refute the unbalanced judgments which have been referred to and to corroborate those who have considered that the title engraved by his countrymen upon his tomb was justly deserved and correctly sums up the leading features of his character and conduct End of Section 10 Section 11 of The Medici Volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Avahi in February 2020 The Medici Volume 1 by G. F. Young Chapter 5 The Medici Palace Before taking our next step in the history of the Medici let us look at the house in which they lived and which is inseparably concerned with Cosimo, its builder for it is a notable one for this is the cradle in which things which now form all the intellectual life of Europe were nursed and nourished in their infancy and helped to grow The Medici in the course of their history occupied three successive palaces in Florence the first that which was occupied by Giovanni di Bicci connected with their rise the second this in the Via Larga connected with all their greatest time in history the third that on the south side of the Arno the Piti Palace connected with their decline and end but it is this second of the three their home during all the time of their greatest achievements which must ever have the chief attraction for those who study their history A world of interest gathers round this palace it is interesting architecturally as the first to be constructed of all the Renaissance palaces of Florence it is interesting historically from the many important events with which it is associated and lastly it is deeply interesting on account of its connection with learning and art as regards its architectural interest the first thing noticeable about it is its date 1430 and its extraordinary advance in style spaciousness and general arrangements beyond all palaces of like date in France England or Germany we look at it when it has been standing 475 years and yet do not find it jar on us by any appearance of inferiority of style or meanness of proportions thus we are apt to forget that it was built when the battle of Aginkour had only been fought 15 years when the wars of the roses had not yet begun and when Henry VI was only 8 years old but let it be compared with anything of the kind elsewhere of the same date and it will be realized how far in advance this handsome spacious and commodious palace erected by the Medici for themselves in 1430 was beyond even King's palaces of that date in England, France or Germany it is built in three orders of architecture the Peculia style Rustica on the ground floor Doric on the second story and Corinthian on the third the Rustica style with its grand roughly hewn stones style of construction which afterwards became so fashionable was first employed in the building of this palace we are told that Michelotso adopted it because it united an appearance of solidity and strength with the light and shadow so essential to beauty under the glare of an Italian sun it was exceeding the expensive and was the principal cause of the new palace being spoken of as too grand for an ordinary citizen the corner of the ground floor towards the Via de Gori was originally an open lodger the windows of the upper stories are divided by elegant little columns with carved above them Cosimo's own special device of the three feathers and the arms of the Medici the Palle or bowls on the corner of the palace is the celebrated Fanale one of the most perfect specimens of the well-known iron lamps made by Nicolo Capara and only permitted on the palaces of the most distinguished citizens the solid character of the ground floor is in accordance with the requirements of the time in that age the home of an important family had to be a fortress no less than a palace and the ground floor of a Florentine palace was built as solidly as de Bastille all decoration being reserved for the upper floors the entrance door of such palaces led through an arched vestibule into an open quartile or courtyard round which the four sides of the palace were built with a fine marble staircase leading up from the quartile to the handsome rooms on the first floor this palace was deliberately intended by Cosimo to be a model of Renaissance architecture it of course far surpassed when built any of the other palaces at that time in Florence or in Italy and it is remarkable that though it was the first of the kind and though it was succeeded by numerous others many of them of such excellence it still remains unsurpassed by any of them the worthy leader of all the great palaces of Florence Professor Banister Fletcher in his History of Architecture takes this palace as the best example of Renaissance architecture as applied to palaces while he also notes that it gives us both the first and the finest example of two things in particular the solid rustica masonry and the bold and massive cornice eight feet in height which crowns the structure and considerably aids its impressive effect interesting however as this palace is architecturally it is still more so as the center of so much history from the middle of the 15th to the middle of the 16th century this was the home of the Medici during a hundred years from the time of Cosimo Pata Patrie until in 1539 Cosimo I the first Grand Duke moved to the Palazzo Veccio preparatory to occupying the new and larger palace which he constructed on the other side of the Arno it was thus their home throughout all their greatest time here have been entertained emperors, popes, kings, princes and most of the distinguished men of that period here Cosimo Pata Patrie passed his strenuous years so full of varied labours here Lorenzo the Magnificent gathered round him his brilliant intellectual coterie here the future Pope Leo X was brought up here his cousin, afterwards Pope Clement VII devised his de-played schemes for the advancement of the family here Catherine the Medici was born and lived as a girl and here nearly all the most prominent events in Florence's history during her most important period have taken place not many palaces in Europe have given hospitality to so many notable persons as have passed through the entrance doorway of this home of the Medici Miliore says that owing to the number and high rank of those entertained there the Medici Palace was called the Hotel of the Princes of the whole world it is now known as the Riccardi Palace having been long subsequently bought from the state by that family but now that it has again passed into the possession of the state it might well be called by its own name though now so little thought of it is one of the most important buildings in Florence and should have that importance duly marked greater still however is the interest attaching to this palace from the point of view of learning and art the inscription which it still bears designates it as the nurse of all learning and justly so for it was here that the ancient learning of Greece and Rome was called back to life and it was from hence that the new learning went forth to change the face of Europe entering by the central doorway and passing through the arched vestibule one finds oneself in the Cortile this court was once adorned with various celebrated statues among them Donatello's bronze statue of David which worked so important an effect in the world of art while we still see over the arches his medallions and here all round under the arcades are classical busts inscriptions and sarcophagi recalling the time when the enthusiasm for the ancient learning burnt so strongly here that time when Marsilio Ficino, the great scholar whom Cosimo treated almost as a son kept a lamp burning before the bust of Plato as before an altar here also art was reverenced and encouraged to a scarcely less degree than learning the number of objects of art which the Medici collected round them in this palace was extraordinary a glimpse of it is given us in the remark made by the Duke of Milan in 1471 that he had not seen in all Italy so many objects of art as he saw in this palace yet this was before Lorenzo the Magnificent added there to all the immense collection made by him during his 23 years rule by which he at least doubled all that had been collected by his father and grandfather the whole of this great accumulation of art treasures was lost when the palace was sacked by the mob in 1494 while the same plundering of all the art treasures collected in the meantime happened again in 1527 it shows therefore what profuse art collectors the Medici were when we find that though all was thus twice over swept away the galleries and museums of Florence still contain paintings statues bronzes gems and other objects of art almost all of them collected by the Medici sufficient to surpass any other collection of such things in Europe this passion for collecting objects of art on the most lavish scale was permanent in this family through all changes and from their rise right down to their end no differences of character seemed to make any difference in this and whether they were public-minded statesmen like Cosimo Pata Patrie or luxurious popes like Leo the Tenth or iron-handed tyrants like Cosimo the First or incapable occupiers of a tottering throne like the last two grand dukes there is not one of them in the whole 343 years of their course who does not show the strong family characteristic in the now deserted court of the palace of the Medici there is to be seen a long Latin inscription which runs as follows after calling on the traveller to pause and note that this was once the celebrated house of the Medici Mediceas Olim Aedes and that here a long list of emperors, kings, popes and other exalted personages have been entertained it continues thus once the house of the Medici in which not alone so many great men but knowledge herself had her home the house which was the nurse of all learning which he revived again renowned also for its cultured magnificence a treasury of antiquity and the arts the homes of departed glory are few over which a prouder epitaph could be placed and it is in this connection that we may trace the origin of that unique appreciation of art which the Medici as a family possessed that second sphere in which they were as notable though in a different way as they were in regard to learning for they give us an example on the wide scale of the connection between those two things all who feel the spirit of art know that technical excellence is not the chief thing but there must also be the expression of some thought some creation of the artist's brain we see that pictures or statues which lack this and rely solely on excellence of technique though they may gain a certain degree of eminence never obtain the highest and most lasting fame hence it is that it has been said of technical criticism that it can only show us the things that are of minor consequence if then the real value of a picture lies in the thoughts that it expresses it is evident that the more knowledge we possess the more likely we are to be able to read those thoughts and so to appreciate the picture and this true everywhere is stubbornly so in the case of the great masters of the classic age of painting who were many sided men learned in many subjects Ruskin after long study of an important fresco picture by one of these masters remarked that he stood amazed at the mass of varied knowledge in history, science, theology and other subjects displayed by the artist and that as he realized how much it surpassed his own knowledge on the subjects concerned and marked that this mass of knowledge on the part of the artist was joined also to perfect drawing and coloring he felt that he stood indeed in the presence of a master every picture in fact except there was belonging to the time of arts decadence has something to say Lord Lindsay calls the efforts of the earliest masters the burning messages of prophecy uttered by the stammering lips of infants and whether the execution be crude or not the true pleasure in art lies in looking through and beyond it and deciphering that burning message if such be there art therefore is a universal language and one in which the artist opens to us a world of high and deep thoughts of which we had before no conception thus learning and art go hand in hand for without learning art has nothing to say and art that has nothing to say will never long hold the attention of mankind as then we stand in the deserted court of the palace which was the nurse of all learning we can understand how natural it was that the learning of the Medici should lead them to become the greatest patrons of art that the world has ever seen end of section 11 section 12 of the Medici volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the Medici volume 1 by G. F. Young chapter 6 Piero Ilgotoso born 1416 ruled 1464 to 1469 died 1469 Piero Ilgotoso has failed to receive from history the notice that he deserves he is generally passed over by historians either with no mention at all or else with merely a few disparaging remarks referring to his physical infirmities it will be seen however that his history and character merit no little attention upon the death of his father Cosimo Paterpatrie Piero then 48 years old succeeded to the headship of the family and the rule of Florence his very boyhood he had been afflicted with gout and was early in life given the name of Ilgotoso the gouty by which he is always known his constant ill health handicapped him greatly throughout life often making him unable for long periods to take any active part in public affairs and forcing him instead to devote himself to the retired life of the scholar while his younger brother Giovanni was practically given his place became his father's favorite and was looked upon by all as the future head of the family and the first indication that we get of Piero's character is the fact that we never hear during all the thirty years that he had to bear this of any sign of resentment on his part either towards his father or brother on this account yet he possessed a full measure of the ability of the Medici family as he both then and afterwards showed for not only was he recognized as a powerful scholar but also we find him sent on several occasions during Cosimo's lifetime on various embassies to Venice to Milan and to France and highly thought of by those to whom he was thus sent and none were more acute judges of character and ability than Doge Francesco Foscari Doge Francesco Svorza of Milan and King Louis XI of France Moreover in connection with these embassies the character and ability of Piero Il Cotoso have received a very unique testimony one born to this day by the Medici coat of arms for so high an opinion did Louis XI form of Piero's abilities that he conferred on him on his becoming head of the family the very special honor of permission to stamp the lilies of France on one of the balls of the Medici arms that ball being colored blue for this purpose and from this time forward the Medici arms have one blue ball with the French lily quite different in shape from the Florentine lily upon it which thus remains a permanent record of the high estimation gained in a country outside his own by Piero Il Cotoso We do not find that his constant ill health soured Piero's disposition in every act of his life he showed a disposition the reverse of an ill tempered one even though his conduct of business and public affairs had, more often than not to be performed from a sick man's couch while various writers mention that one of his special characteristics was an intense hatred of all quarrels but there is a third indication of his character which is more striking in his case alone we have none of that conflict of opinion among rival historians giving the most opposite views of character and motives which has been alluded to as so common throughout the history of this family even those most bitterly biased against the whole race of Medici have nothing to say against Piero Il Cotoso he is the one solitary head of this family throughout their whole history in whose case this feature is absent before considering his history it is necessary to note exactly what was the position to which on his father's death he succeeded one necessarily speaks of it as the rule over the state but that term is liable to mislead unless we bear in mind the peculiar position it must not be forgotten that the governing body was the senioria with its precedent the gonfaloniere Piero was not one of this body and therefore had theoretically no official position but it had gradually come about as a consequence of the influence which Cosimo had so long wielded that every measure passed by the senioria must be agreed to by the head of the Medici family before it could be carried into effect thus the head of the Medici family though theoretically no more than a simple citizen of the Republic did in actual fact bear the rule over the state and wielded almost complete authority but it must be remembered that the continuance of that position rested solely on two conditions a constantly maintained demonstration by the person in question of an ability greater than that of his fellow citizens and no less constantly maintained popularity let either of these factors fail to continue and the position at once reverted to the theoretical one wherein the head of the Medici family was only an ordinary citizen and as liable as any other to be exiled by the senioria when Piero's brother Giovanni died Cosimo, seeing that Piero's frail life might terminate any day that's the latter's elder son Lorenzo giving him practice in every way possible in public affairs though he was only fourteen but Lorenzo had only reached the age of fifteen when his grandfather died he was however capable beyond his years the greatest attention had from the very first been paid by Piero to the education of his two sons Londino wrote a whole treatise on the education of the two young Medici and Piero, as soon as Lorenzo was old enough, had appointed Marcilio Ficino, the celebrated head of the Platonic Academy, to be his tutor when therefore Piero became head of the family he continued the course which Cosimo had begun to adopt and while he retained foreign affairs in his own hands left home politics largely in the hands of his capable young son for thirty years there had been no further attempts to oust the Medici from that position of power in Florence to which they had attained now however the attempt was again to be made to get rid of them a large party of all those jealous of the position this family had come to occupy saw in the feeble health of Piero in the extreme youth of his eldest son an opportunity for effecting this and began to stir up a movement against the Medici which was headed by Luca Pitti, assisted by such prominent men as Agnolo Acioli, Niccolò Sordini and even Dieti Solvineroni who had been Cosimo's most trusted advisor and on whom he had specially advised Piero to lean and since those concern knew that owing to the popularity of the Medici lower classes of the people would not permit any regular process for their exile the above movement soon grew into plans for a formidable rebellion by force of arms the objects which the conspirators set before themselves were the death of Piero and the banishment of the family the plots for this were being carried on all through 1465 and the first half of 1466 Piero appears to have known that something was going on but with his habitual dislike of intrigues and quarrels chose to ignore it and was apparently right in feeling that if it came to a head he had in himself the abilities to defeat it he knew Luca Pitti's character as a vain but incapable man and that the others relied too much on the results of his own bad health also for some time the conspirators could not agree as to their plan of action so that for the first two years of Piero's rule no overt action took place meanwhile the chief events in other states were as follows Pope Pius II died in the same month as Cosimo Patrypatrie and was exceeded by Paul II in France Louis XI was introducing a new era cold, measured, crafty and detestable for his many murders and cruelties especially for the way in which he in many cases lured his victims to their deaths by treachery he had gained the name of the universal spider at the same time he worked an immense change in France which was for her ultimate benefit he destroyed the power of the nobles gradually murdering them in turn until he left none who could be formidable and quenched all elements of independence but he converted chaos into order made France into a strong and prosperous kingdom and was the founder of her absolute monarchy during the first six years of his reign 1461 to 1467 he was occupied in the above struggle until by the end of this period he had for the time crushed the power of the nobles in France in 1466 Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, died ever since he had gained his throne by Cosimo's assistance he had been a firm friend of the Medici and the death of this strong ally tended to weaken Piero's position both as regards foreign affairs and in his own state as Francesco's son and successor, Galeazzo Sforza was not so strong a character nor so surely to be relied upon in August 1466 the conspiracy which had been hatching for two years to take Piero's life and destroy the Medici came to a head the party headed by Luca Pitti assembled their forces in arms a few miles from Florence and laid plans for seizing Piero who was lying seriously ill at Careggi at the same time a force from Ferrara under Ercole d'Este, Duke Borso's brother advanced to the frontier to assist them but the conspirators were completely mistaken in their man for Piero displayed a resolution and energy extraordinary in one handicapped as he was by severe illness getting into a litter he at once started for Florence but on the way he had a narrow escape on this occasion his young son Lorenzo, then 17 great coolness and danger and resource whereby he saved his father's life riding on ahead he heard of an armed party who were lying in wait for Piero on the ordinary road with much adroitness he managed to keep their attention occupied while he sent back word to the party who were escorting his father and caused him to be conveyed by a different route to Florence and safety arrived at the Medici Palace Piero at once set about collecting his adherents sent to beg the assistance of some Milanese troops who happened to be near the borders of Tuscany and had soon collected a larger force than his opponents he marched against them the conspirators, divided by the vacillations of Lucchipiti in their own dissensions and confused by Piero's promptness were unable to fight their force melted away and dispersed and the leaders surrendered a new signeria just elected promptly passed a sentence of death upon the ring-leaders Lucchipiti, Dieti Salvi Neroni, Niccolò Sorerini and Agnolo Aciolli and certainly never did men more deserve it especially Neroni who had throughout acted with the basest in gratitude treachery and dissimulation and now Piero displayed the best side of his character he utterly refused to have these men put to death though it certainly would have been to his advantage not to interfere on their behalf for two of them, Neroni and Sorerini only used their pardon and liberty to stir up Venice to make war upon him he pardoned Lucchipiti outright and by his treatment of him converted him into a friend for life while the others were simply ordered to quit Florence Machiavelli says it was due to him, Piero, that his partisans did not stain their hands in the blood of their fellow citizens thus did Piero put down a formidable rebellion without any bloodshed and this is probably the only instance in those ages of an armed rebellion which aimed at the death of the ruler being suppressed by him without the loss of a single life and even with the conversion of its principal leader into a permanent friend this one achievement of Piero Ilgotoso is sufficient to demonstrate both his ability and the high qualities of his character and marks him out as one really fit to rule a state we are told that when Lucchipiti's rebellion was thus suppressed, the young Lorenzo a friend on his father's action said he only knows how to conquer who knows how to forgive it was conduct and qualities such as this displayed by the earlier generations of the Medici which helped to raise that family to its high eminence in Florence and when sixty years after this Clarice de' Medici become by marriage Clarice Strozzi in her impassioned harangue contrasted the behaviour of her ancestors with that of those then representing the family and said that it was by magnanimity and clemency that the former had gained the favour of the Florentines she said no more than the actual truth the natural effect of the defeat of such a formidable effort to destroy the family and especially when so complete a victory was accompanied by such clemency and kindliness was to make the Medici stronger than ever in their peculiar position in Florence after this affair their popularity with the people caused the head of the family to become more than ever a king in all but the name the above episode was followed in the next year fourteen sixty seven by war with Venice ever since Cosimo's alliance with Milan Venice had waited for an opportunity of revenge upon the Medici and this seemed now to have come Niccolò Saradini and Dieti Salvineroni requited Piero for saving their lives by proceeding to Venice and persuading the Doge and Council to attack him asserting that there was a large party in Florence ready to take up arms against the Medici the Venetian army therefore commanded by the celebrated Bartolomeo Collioni was in May fourteen sixty seven dispatched against Florence's territory Piero's conduct however had entirely won over those who had previously been ready to attack the Medici so that the supposed adherence of Venice in Florence proved non-existent Piero was also successful in obtaining as his allies both the Duke of Milan and the King of Naples each of whom sent him some troops the Florentine army opposed that of Venice where at length a battle was fought in which the Venetian army was defeated after which in April fourteen sixty-eight a peace was concluded as the result of which Florence gained a much coveted addition to her territory viz the town of Sardisana and the fortress of Sardisonello this was followed in August of the same year by a short but very successful campaign in which Florence, assisted by Naples and Urbino opposed the Pope and prevented him from seizing upon the small state of Rimini by these successes Piero still further strengthened the position of his family in Florence these various troubles having been overcome the year fourteen sixty-nine the last year of Piero's life was one of peace and festivities his son Lorenzo was now nineteen and his second son Giuliano fifteen and in February fourteen sixty-nine these two young Medici organized a splendid tournament which they intended should be the inauguration of a lighter and more festive life than the somewhat somber one which their father's ill health and the political troubles of the last few years had made customary it was held in order to celebrate Lorenzo's betrothal to Clarice Orsini the Roman bride who had been selected for him by his mother Lucrezia Tonaboni whose letters from Rome to her husband Piero describing the young lady's appearance are still preserved Clarice Orsini at this time sixteen also writes letters to Lorenzo conveying various polite greetings while she complains to a friend that Lorenzo is so greatly occupied with this jousting that he does not find time to write to her often enough by her anxiety and depression for several days on account of the tilting and her relief when she heard it was over without mishap to Lorenzo we are reminded that a tournament was not merely a splendid show but that wounds and death were always possible in the course of it it is evident that Clarice's abilities were not of a very high order and that her education fell considerably below that customary in the family she was about to enter which she considered so far beneath her own even Lucrezia Tonaboni while praising the appearance of the girl she had chosen for her son says that she is not to be compared with Maria Lucrezia and Bianca her own daughters this tournament which so fully engaged the young Lorenzo's attention provided Florence with a more gorgeous spectacle than the city had ever before witnessed and was the first of those great pageants for which Lorenzo's age afterwards became famous it was immortalized in one of the two most celebrated poems of the 15th century La Jostra di Lorenzo de' Medici by Luca Pucci standing in the Piazza Santa Croce where, as a substitute for the fierce battles between citizens of former days this exciting scene of mimic warfare took place how vividly does its fantastic splendor voluminously described in the writings of the time rise before our eyes the reigning beauty of Florentine society Lucrezia Donati who was queen of the tournament the young scions of the Medici, Pazzi, Pucci, Benci, Ruccelli, Vespucci and other principal families who were the knights and each night accompanied by his standard bearer heralds, trumpeters, pages and men at arms all wearing his colors and arrayed in the most splendid fashion the extravagant punctilio the grand eloquent compliments the delight of the vast crowd occupying every roof, balcony, window and other point of vantage round the piazza and all lit up by Florentine sunshine in February the knights first appeared in most magnificent dresses for an imposing procession round the piazza accompanied by every sort of display after which they changed into their armor for the actual combat we may gather some idea of the dresses from the description of that of Lorenzo he had a diamond in the center of his shield and rubies and diamonds in his cap a velvet surcoat with a cape of white silk edged with red and a silk scarf embroidered with roses and pearls for the actual combat he wore another surcoat a velvet fringe with gold with a helmet adorned with three blue feathers his horse was draped with red and white velvet embroidered with pearls the device on his standard was a bay tree one half dry and dead looking and the other half green with the motto worked in pearls le temps revient symbolizing that a time of youth and joy after the winter of Cosimo's old age and Piero's ill health was now to supervene the occasion was considered a sufficient importance for the king of Naples and the dukes of Ferrara in Milan to present Lorenzo with horses and armor for it Lorenzo in his own writings mentions this tournament and says in order to do as others I appointed a tournament in the piazza Santa Croce with great splendor and at great expense so that it cost me about ten thousand gold florins although I was young and of no great skill the first prize was awarded to me namely a helmet inlaid with silver and surmounted with a figure of Mars Giuliano also, though as yet too young to take so prominent to part as his brother was splendidly arrayed and this handsome boy of fifteen in helmet and armor and mounted on a fine charger when the admiration of all several busts of him in his armor and wearing the dragon shaped helmet designed for him by Verrocchio were executed and it seems most probable that the terra cotta bust by Antonio Polallolo now in the museum of the Bargello and cataloged as an unknown portrait bust is in reality one of these busts of Giuliano Miss Crutwell, in her work on Antonio Polallolo considers that it was executed at about this date and says it is probably a portrait of one of the Medici whose type of face and arrogant bearing it resembles closely Giuliano is known to a specially patronized Polallolo and in the inventory of the collections in the Medici Palace other works by that artist are recorded as being all in Giuliano's room in the palace again there was no other youth of the same age at this period in Florence whose bust in this style would have been likely to be executed by Polallolo but above all it has the well-known lock of hair on the forehead which was so distinguishing a feature of Giuliano's face and is often mentioned so that all together there seems to be little doubt that we have in this bust of Polallolo's a portrait of Giuliano as he was at 15 the bust has been greatly damaged the arms being broken off as well as the dragon-shaped helmet leaving only one of the legs of the dragon at one side of the head but the face with its charming boyish frankness is uninjured and as Miss Crutwell says seems to fill the room with its buoyant, vivacious life the details of the armour representing Hercules fighting with the serpents and with the Stemphalian bird are as admirably executed as the portrait itself in the following June the marriage of Lorenzo to Clarice Orsini took place on this occasion of the marriage of their eldest son Piero and his wife Lucrezia gave a magnificent entertainment to all Florence it was a marriage which gave evidence of how the Medici were advancing in worldly esteem for the Orsini were one of the greatest families in Italy but whether the Medici would not have done better for themselves if they had adhered to those Florentine marriages such as they had hitherto made and which had produced a Cosimo Paterpatrie a Piero Ilgotoso and a Lorenzo the Magnificent may well be doubted looking at the subsequent history the marriage took place on the 4th June in the family church of San Lorenzo and the festivities and connection with it were on the most profuse scale the entire city being feasted by the Medici for three successive days quote feasting, dancing and music continued day and night until one wonders of the endurance of the people some idea of the extravagance of the entertainment may be gathered from such a fact as that they were consumed of sweet meats alone five thousand pounds end quote while the populace were thus regaled all Florentine society was entertained at five immense banquets in the Medici Palace quote at these banquets the loges and gardens of the palace in the Via Lardga were filled to overflowing separate tables being set out for the young ladies who were the bride's companions fifty young women with whom to dance say the records older ladies forming Madonna Lucrezia's company in the same way there were different tables for the young men who danced and for those of mature years the feasting began on the Sunday morning when the bride, mounted upon the splendid charger presented to Lorenzo by the king of Naples left the house of the Alessandro in the Borgo San Piero now Borgo del Giabizzi and entered her new home followed by a train of nobles the symbolic olive branch being hoisted at the window to the accompaniment of gay music and the festivities continued until the Tuesday morning when she went to hear Mass at the church of San Lorenzo bearing in her hand one of the thousand wedding gifts a little book of Our Lady most marvellous written in letters of gold upon blue paper and with a cover of crystal and silverwork unquote End of Section 12 Section 13 of the Medici Valium I This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Medici Valium I by G. F. Young Chapter 6 Piero Ilgotoso Part 2 But the chief interest of the five years' rule of Piero Ilgotoso centres in his prominent connection with the art of the period He had had greater leisure to pursue the family tastes for learning in art than would have been the case had he had better health and being passionately fond of both they had for thirty years been the chief interest of his life A thorough scholar he was as eager in the collection of rare manuscript books as his father and made many valuable additions to the Medici Library Still more important was the unremitting assistance which he gave to art Nearly every work of art which remains in Florence belonging to Piero's time was executed either for him or at his instigation including the one solitary work which the Medici Palace still retains the frescoes round the walls of the chapel In 1466 the great sculptor Donatello died at the age of 81 In accordance with his dying request to be laid close to his lifelong friend and patron Cosimo Pater Patrie he was buried at the expense of the Medici family in the crypt of San Lorenzo alongside the tomb of Cosimo almost the whole city with every architect, sculptor and painter in Florence following his funeral He was the last of those who had assisted at the outburst in art at the beginning of the century Massaccio, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti and Fra Angelico had all passed away and besides Lippi who had left Florence and died three years after Donatello the foremost men in art now were Luca della Robbia, Leon Battista Alberti Piero della Francesca and Benozzo Gazzoli while another young painter, Sandra Botticelli was just coming forward Luca della Robbia is another of those who struck out a special line in art entirely his own His chief work in marble, the Cantoria and his other works in marble and bronze have already been noticed but the works which have given him his special fame are the beautiful ball reliefs executed by him in glazed terracotta generally white with a blue background a method which he gradually perfected and made his own Luca della Robbia's object in adopting this method was the invention of a form of art which could be employed for the decoration of churches and other buildings where marble ball reliefs from their costliness were impossible It is believed that the site of some ancient Greek enameled wear gave Luca della Robbia the idea of using the same method for sculptures and relief but however that may be his actual discovery made after profound studies in chemistry and innumerable experiments consisted in covering the clay model with an enamel which is thought to have consisted of the ingredients of glass mixed with oxide of tin the exact method was kept as a family secret but the particular method in which Luca della Robbia's conceptions were given permanence is of far less importance than the works themselves as the Marquesa Buramaki says the joy of life the sadness of life the grief of the Madonna the innocence of childhood the love of mother for child and of child for mother the great central lessons of the redemption angelic sympathy all these Luca della Robbia has depicted with a perfection which no other artist has ever surpassed his date also is an important item in our appreciation of his genius looking at his works one can scarcely realize that he was born in the same year as Massaccio and long before all that great army of painters who followed in the latter half of the 15th century yet it is not too much to say that for the beauty of expression in the faces of his Madonna's of his angels and of his children including the representations of the child Christ it is not until we reach Raphael born 80 years after him that we find a painter able to equal him in these respects while even Raphael does not in these points surpass him regarding his relief of the Madonna and child with two angels in a curved lunette now in the museum of the Bargello Mr. Alan Marquand after remarking that there is much of Raphael's manner in the bearing of the Madonna draws attention to her eyes and says Luca's ideal of the Madonna was evidently a woman with blue eyes well to the Christ child he gives hazel eyes and in the relief of the Madonna and child in the Foundling Hospital in which the child holds a scroll with the words and the Madonna's hand rests on the inscription Mr. Marquand draws attention to the eyes marked in lilac the hairy eyebrows lilac upper eyelashes and pupils and a light shade of lilac in place of the usual grayish blue for the iris of the eye in the relief of the Madonna and child with three cherub heads in an arched niche now in the museum of the Bargello the heads of the cherubs are especially beautiful while his altar piece in the church of the imprunetta near Florence is considered to contain one of the most beautiful figures of St. John the Baptist ever executed Luca della Robbia lived to the age of 81 dying in 1482 Leon Battista Liberti was one of those men of very genius which the Renaissance so often produced nominally he was an architect and also a painter but really and chiefly an authority on art in all its branches he occupies a similar position in his age to that occupied by Leonardo da Vinci 50 years later and it was as a universally accepted authority on art in general not for any works of his own that Alberti gained his fame Vasari in speaking of him enlarges on how necessary learning is to an artist and speaks of the great aid which Alberti gave to art by his writings saying that such is the force of his writings that he exercised far greater influence by them over art than many who surpassed him by their works Alberti was exceedingly versatile he studied architecture, painting, perspective, sculpture, and Latin he wrote two treatises on painting one on architecture and one on sculpture he invented a celebrated perspective glass and Vasari says was expert in all physical exercises and in all the accomplishments of a gentleman Alberti was a Florentine but he belonged to the party of the Foriushiti or permanent exiles and spent very little of his life in Florence he died in Rome in 1472 at the age of 67 Piero della Francesca though he worked first at Florence and learnt his art there especially studying massaccio's frescoes did not belong to Florence itself but to the small town of Borgosanza Pocro which had become part of Florence's territory in 1441 his great work for art was the final discovery of the true laws of perspective that subject on which so many brains in the world of art had long been busy and which was the last of the secrets of the technique of painting to be discovered in this achievement he must be coupled to some extent with Paolo Uccello and with Alberti and he really took up and carried on Alberti's ideas it was arrived at by being worked out by being worked out from a mathematical basis and not from any of the empirical methods which had been tried by many artists in succession Piero della Francesca's chief work was his treatise on perspective dedicated to the Duke of Urbino the most pleasing of his pictures the altarpiece now in the Pinacoteca e Perugia has a long colonnade in perfect perspective Piero della Francesca is also notable for two other things we have in his fresco paintings at Arezzo the first real endeavor to paint historical pictures and in his portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino now in the Uffizi Gallery we have the first regular portraits in 1469 Piero della Francesca then 63 was invited to Urbino by the Duke in order to paint them Duke Federigos is painted showing the left side of the face in order to conceal the loss of his right eye which together with his broken nose was caused by a severe wound received in a tournament the likeness judged by those on coins is admirable as also the perspective of the landscape in the distance these two valuable portraits hung in the palace at Urbino as long as there were any dukes of Urbino when in 1634 Vittoria della Orovere the sole heiress of the last Duke of Urbino was married to her first cousin Ferdinand II she brought as a part of her property these portraits of her ancestor and ancestors thus bringing them into the art collections of the Medici family Piero della Francesca died in 1492 at the age of 86 Benozzo Cazzoli, pupil of Fra Angelico is the great illustrative painter of his time as the teller of a story he is unrivaled he was a most rapid and indefatigable worker covering huge spaces with his beautifully executed frescoes in a wonderfully short time thus he has left a mass of paintings which are very valuable historically bringing vividly before us the manners of the time of the earlier Medici like so many others Cazzoli began as a worker on the bronze doors under Ghiberti after a time he began to learn painting under Fra Angelico workiness his assistants at Florence and Rome until 1447 when he first began to paint alone Benozzo Cazzoli's three chief works are one, his frescoes in the church of San Augustino at San Gimignano a great cycle of frescoes representing the life of St. Augustine from his boyhood to his death in 17 scenes this huge work took even Gazzoli four years two, his frescoes in the chapel of the Medici Palace at Florence which are considered his masterpiece C.7 three, his frescoes in the Camposanto at Pisa this was a gigantic work it occupied Gazzoli 15 years and was nothing less than covering with his paintings the whole of the north wall of the Camposanto a task, says Vasari, immense enough to discourage a whole legion of masters the scenes represent the whole of the Old Testament history from the time of Noah to that of Solomon in 23 scenes Gazzoli has introduced into these forest scenery scenes of the vintage and Tuscany and much that is interesting in the life of the people also portraits of many prominent men of the time members of the Medici family, scholars, painters and other celebrated men the execution, however, is very uneven and he was evidently then getting old he died at Pisa in 1497 and is buried in the Camposanto he had beautified but besides the foregoing another young painter, Sandro Botticelli was at this time beginning to come forward Botticelli is par excellence the painter of the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent but his first period belongs to that of Piero Ilcotoso one of his prominent characteristics is that being of an unusually receptive nature he reflects to a singular degree the prevailing mental atmosphere around him so much so that when the spirit of the time changes the spirit and character of his pictures change with it as a consequence Botticelli's painting may be divided into four distinct periods with different styles due to events which caused marked changes in the life of Florence these four periods are 1. the period of the rule of Piero Ilcotoso 1464 to 1469 2. the period of the rule of Lorenzo the Magnificent 1469 to 1492 3. the time of Savonarola's dominance in Florence 1494 to 1498 4. the portion of Botticelli's life after Savonarola's death 1498 to 1510 owing to the close connection which his pictures usually have with the events of the time there is less difficulty than with other painters in determining their date 1. very shortly after he became head of the family in 1464 Piero began to employ Sandro Botticelli then a young painter of twenty in whom he recognized great talent and the modern world which values Botticelli so highly owes gratitude to Piero Ilcotoso for the generous help and encouragement by which he enabled the friendless youth to succeed as he did nor was Piero Ilcotoso alone in this his highly cultured wife, Lucrezia Tuna Buoni was at least as much concerned in the matter as her husband and in the pictures of Botticelli's first period when he was between 20 and 25 her influence is clearly traceable by this talented pair of patrons Botticelli, only five years older than their eldest son was taken into the Casa Medici made almost like a son of the house and kept continually occupied in painting pictures for which they gave him liberal remuneration and Botticelli throughout his life cherished a deep devotion towards Piero Ilcotoso and his wife Lucrezia for the help, affection and encouragement which he had received from them in his earliest years as regards technique the chief point for which Botticelli is always praised is his beauty of lying and drawing his love of life, dancing movement and waving drapery is very apparent Ruskin says he often appears affected but would not have been in accord with the spirit of the time if he had not been slightly affected much studied grace of manner much formal assertion of scholarship were a part of the spirit of the time but he was gifted with another power greater than his technique Botticelli was permeated with that spirit which Donatello had taught as the ultimate aim and highest glory of art beginning to paint just two years before Donatello died Botticelli carried on the latter's message to the world of art he is able, if his subject is a religious one to make a single picture convey a whole sermon if his subject is a classical myth to make a single picture bring before our minds the whole spirit of a period if his subject is historical to cause a single picture to relate the entire history of a long episode possessed of such a power he is naturally very fond of allegorical treatment and the suggestion of a whole train of thought often giving the entire meaning of his picture by some comparatively small detail hence while his poetry of imagination his human sympathy, religious spirit and beautiful technique cannot but appeal to all a mere rapid glance at his pictures will fail to reveal their depth of thought while many of his most important pictures will not be understood at all without a full knowledge of the history of the period all the principal pictures of Botticelli's first period were painted for Piero Ilgotoso referring to those which still remain at Florence we have four principal pictures belonging to this period the Judith the Madonna of the Magnificat the Adoration of the Magi and the Fortitude all of them now in the Ophizie Gallery regarding the charming little picture of Judith it is remarked by Ruskin that among all the many pictures on this favourite subject this one by Botticelli is the only one that is true to Judith and that this will be seen if the Book of Judith is studied his reasons for this opinion and his remarks on this picture generally are well worth studying in the Madonna of the Magnificat we have a picture painted for Piero Ilgotoso about the year 1465 the influence of Lucrezia Tornaboni the deeply religious poetess especially apparent in this case her spirit breathes throughout the picture which is like a representation in painting of her poems it is sometimes called the Humilitas an illusion both to the expression on the Madonna's face as she writes her song of praise and to the fact that the finger of the child rests on that word in her song the left hands of both child and mother rest together on a bitten pomegranate the emblem of the fall it has been said of this picture that it expresses a depth of divine tenderness and a deep spiritual feeling such as no other painter not even Raphael has reached it differs in one notable respect from the many other pictures on the subject of the Madonna and Child which Botticelli painted in his third period namely in its keynote for while the keynote of this picture is humility that of all those of his third period is foreboding sorrow this picture was painted for Piero in his wife Lucrezia at the time when their two sons Lorenzo and Giuliano were boys of about 16 and 12 respectively i.e. the year 1465 or 1466 they are the two boys introduced into the picture as angels who are kneeling before the Madonna and Child and holding the ink stand in the book in which the Blessed Virgin is writing her song while a third angel bends over them protectingly resting one hand on the shoulder of each Giuliano is the one facing the spectator with the lock of hair on his forehead Lorenzo's naturally darker complexion has been intensified in order to throw all the light on Giuliano the favorite younger son of the mother for whom the picture was painted End of section 13