THE Renaissance was the golden age of European history where artistic achievements, humanistic studies, engineering development and scientific inventions all happened almost at once. Contributing more than anyone to the flowering of Florentine genius in the late 15th century was Lorenzo the Magnificent, head of the Medici banking family and unofficial head of the government of Florence; supporting such giants as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Andrea del Verrocchio.
Lorenzo de'Medici was the original Renaissance Man before such a term ever existed.
He was an enthusiastic patron of artists, musicians, architects and scholars. In fact, when Michelangelo was a boy, Lorenzo recognised his genius, and supported him financially for four years; bringing him into his household, Michelangelo was treated as a member of the family, eating at the same table with the Medici family and having his own room in their house. It was this exposure and connection to the family that gave Michelangelo an opportunity for unrestricted access to one of the greatest collections of art and literature from antiquity, heavily influenced his works, and ensured him a lifetime of commissions.
Lorenzo was a genuine art lover and had a considerable personal knowledge too about painting, poetry and music; he wrote some remarkable poetry of varied style and subject in his native Tuscan, and was one of the first to appreciate Classical Works. Unfailingly generous and considerate to the artists that he sponsored, even when he could scarcely afford it, Lorenzo kept the Medici Palace and Gardens open to the talented ones. Under him Florence saw an artistic revolution unparalleled in the rest of Europe.
It was also his interest in music composition that led to the development of the early Madrigal. Some of the musicians that he patronized such as the Organist Squarcialupi and the composer Heinrich Isaak became famous all over Europe and people flocked to Florence in order to hear them.
“How beautiful is youth, that is always slipping away! Whoever wants to be happy, let him be so: about tomorrow there’s no knowing.”- LORENZO DE MEDICI
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