Florence Renaissance Part II

• By the mid 15th century the Medici family was th absolute leaders of Florence
• The Medici family was in danger because of rival families trying to take their position in power
• The two hiers to the Medici leadership, Lorenzo and his brother
• When the Medici family was on their way home from a country retreat assassins were going to attempt to assassinate Lorenzo's father
• Lorenzo saved him and the Medici family stayed in power
• the people in Florence were envious of the Medici though
• They needed allies outside of Flroence to ensure that they could be safe
• When Lorenzo got married they made sure he married a military man's daughter who was also the neice of a cardinal so she brought lots of connections
• Florence had become the center for art and many of the artists competed for the next great work of art
• The Medici family were funding a new artist who would later define the Renaissance
• This artist was Botechelli
• His painting contained all the members and the friends of the Medici family
• when Lorenzo's father died he became the new leader of Florence like his father and grandfather
• Lorenzo took to his new role with ease and he allowed the common people to come to his house
• Lorenzo knowns that he needs to also have favor with the poor people of Florence
• Lorenzo by offering favors and having a large circle of friends became a semi dictator because he could do anything he wanted
• The Medici had a magnificent chapel in the middle of their house to show their power and money to those who entered
• Lorenzo grew up as a scholar
• Lorenzo brought lots of art and other activities to Florence
• Botticelli created a new kind of art, La Primavera- The spring
• La Primavera was pure fantasy that was fueled by imagination
• Medici allowed Botticelli to make his art about things not even Christian, like pagan beliefs
• In La Primavera is showed Venus the ancient goddess of beauty
• The Patsi family were the second richest family in Florence
• they had the advantage of the Medici because they had a longer strand of royalty in their past
• The Patsi family made a plan to kill both of the Medici brothers so they could take control of Florence
• As the rumors of the conspiracy spread a new plan was hatched
• In the late 14th century on Easter Sunday the Medici family and all the other people of Florence went to Mass in the Florence Cathedral
• At this mass, the conspirators made their attempt to assassinate the Medici brothers becuase they were both there
• Juliano Medici was stabbed to death at the Church but Lorenzo lived
• Lorenzo was wounded and he showed himself to the crowd to show the people they are still there
• In doing this the Medici family stayed in power
• The supports of the Medici family took revenge on the conspirators
• With the death of Juliano the Medici power held on by a thread
• Lorenzo found out that the Pope himself ordered for the rest of the Medici family
• Lorenzo decided he had to repair relationships with his enemies in the South to save hmself and his family
• He goes to the South and a deal of peace is brought between them
• The Pope was very unhappy about this
• Lorenzo was hailed by his city and called EL Magnifico, The Maginificent
• Lorenzo adopted his brother's son so the Medici family could have more hiers
• Lorenzo funded a new artist named Leonardo De Vinci
• Leonardo was determined to bring the real world into his art
• In the battle for Medici patronage Botticelli brought his new style to new extremes
• He painted The Birth of Venus and it ws unlike any other painting at that time
• One monk believed that the Medici family was leading Florence in the wrong direction
• His disgust with the new paintings of not religious paintings became an obsession
• He turned his hate all towards Lorenzobecause he believed he was the source of all sin in Italy
• On July 29 1487, Lorenzo's wife died of TB
• In 1488 Lorenzo established the first art school ever
• At this school he found a new artist that was working with marble for the first time
• This artist was Michelangelo
• He took him under his wing when he was only 13
• He decided to bring Michelangelo into the Medici family along with his 7 other children
• The people of Florence were split down the middle between the people who wanted a higher sciety with art and people who believe dthat people were straying too far from religion
• Lorenzo had lost some control of his buisness and lost a fortune
• in 1492 Lorenzo fell very ill
• Lorenzo turned to the Church
• One of his sons was already a cardinal at 16
• Lorenzo knew he was dying and he needed something he couldnt buy
• He called the monk who had formed a hate against Lorenzo to his death bed to seek absolution
• The monk did not forgive Lorenzo but he damned him
• At 43, Lorenzo died, fearing Hell to his last death
• Boticelli was so shaken by the changing world that he turned to Christianity
• This changed showed in his paintings
• Under the control of the monk Sevonorola the pople turned wildly Christian
• Protistutes were beaten and homosexuals were burned
• He was trying to bring the kingdom of God to Earth
• He made all the people burn naything that came from Lorenzo's Renaissance
• This burning was called the bonfire of the Vanities
• Florence had fallen from how light it was during the Renaissance and was becoming more of a hell