Laurent de Médicis

Laurent de Médicis (January 1st 1449 – April 9th 1492) known as also Laurent Splendid the , Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici was an Italian statesman and the leader de facto of the republic florentine during the Italian Renaissance. Called Splendid the by its contemporaries, it was one of the most remarkable characters of its time. Beyond its talents of diplomat and Politician, it côtoyé a group of brilliances scholars, artists, and poets and also excelled in disciplines as varied as the Joute, the Chasse, the Poésie, the handling of the weapons or the athletics: by this range of talents, it thus constitutes one of the most beautiful incarnations of the ideal of the Man of the Renaissance.

An exceptional Man

Laurent was a charismatic , firm and energetic man very , sharing his talents between his city, his family, the Religion and arts. Its life coincided with the First Rebirth of Arts and it disappeared with the apogee from the power florentine. Fragile peace that it contributed to establish between various Italian States did not survive to him: two years only after its death, the French invasion of 1494 marks the starting point of a foreign presence in the Italian peninsula which lasted nearly four centuries. Although the Médicis kept their power with Florence during several centuries, generating three Pape S and two queens of France, none of its successors managed to equalize his level of personal achievement in so much of fields. Its nickname of " Magnifique" does not come to him from a beauty which it did not have besides, but of a bad translation of the Latin term " munificent" who returns to his prodigality and his extreme financial generosity.

Laurent the Splendid one was born in one from the more big families florentines, owner of the Médicis bank as well as his subsidiary companies through all Europe. His/her grandfather, Cosme de Médicis, was first Médicis to combine the management of the family bank to the management de facto of Florence like to a philanthropic implication, by devoting most of his fortune (which did of him one of the richest men of the world) to the service of arts and charity. The father of Laurent, Pierre de Médicis says Goutteux, also played a central role in the businesses florentines through the patronage and the development of his collection personnelle ; however, its valetudinary constitution did not enable him to make radiate the family on the same level that his/her father or his son did it. His/her mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni, resulting from an old florentine family, was also poetess, côtoyant Luigi Pulci or Ange Politien.

His/her grandfather very early saw in him an immense potential and stuck aà to give him an education of prince recovering all the fields of knowledge through the teaching of large scholars: Latin, Greek, natural science, Mathematical, poetry, Art, Literature, Philosophy. He did not forget however to initiate it with the human contacts, with the management of the Banque, like with the life Politique, while taking it along the every day to his with dimensions. Laurent took officially the direction of the family businesses with died of his father in 1469 at the 20 years age, even if one can consider that because of the fragile state of health of his father, it was with the head as of the death of his grandfather, in 1464: he was then 15 years old only!

The guard of arts

Laurent also shone in the intellectual fields; he is in particular known to have attended and have supported the majority of the large artists of his time. Its support for artists like Antonio Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio, Léonard de Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi or, of course, Michelange enormously contributed to make of Florence the capital of the First Rebirth. Although its financial troubles had not enabled him to place itself all the orders, it convainquit many middle-class men to place order to certain artists. Michelange lived at Laurent de Médicis during several years and almost had the appearance of a full member of the family; the sculptor will never forget this gesture of generosity.

In addition, Laurent was very attached to increase and open with the public the family library initiated by Cosme de Médicis. He thus contributed to find and gather disappeared ancient texts. Laurent de Médicis was also very active in the support for humanistic by the means of the creation of think tanks on the Greek philosophers. These circles made it possible to initiate a current Néo-Platonicien in particular including philosophers like Pic of Mirandole, Marsile Ficin or the poet Ange Politien.

End-of-life

The only field in which Laurent did not have success was paradoxically that which builds the power of its family: the bank. Under its control, several subsidiary companies of the bank crumbled because of bad placements, so much so that at the end of its life he knew serious financial problems and must have recourse to the money of the city to reinflate itself.

Towards the end of his life, Laurent was very close to Savonarole, which it contributed to install in Florence. Paradoxically, Savonarole criticized the too great pagan presence in the Christian culture of the time; thus, he hated popular arts that Laurent had all his life defended. He died in the night from April 8th to 9th 1492 in the family property of Careggi; he is buried at the sides of his Julien brother in the basilica San Lorenzo, in a vault designed by Michelange and decorated with splendid sculptures.

After his death, his/her son Pierre Unfortunate the wasted his fortune and made temporarily crumble the power of the Medici family in Florence. His/her Giovanni brother restored it partially, but the family became again really powerful thanks to the part played by Cosme I {{er}} of Médicis, which was however a member far away from the family Médicis.

Descent

He married the June 4th 1469 Clarisse Orsini and had like children:

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