Author name: medici

Cardinal Ipploito de’ Medici (1511-1535) is the illegitimate son of Giuliano de’ Medici. He was considered by the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII as the possible future head of the family. In the event he was passed over in favor of Alessandro de’ Medici and was made a cardinal in January 1529, in which capacity he travelled to Hungary in […]

Lorenzo de’ Medici, Lord of Florence and Duke of Urbino (1492-1519) was the grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was the son of Piero ‘lo Sfortunato’ de’ Medici  (1471–1503) and Alfonsina Orsina. He was reared in Rome during the Medici exile and accepted the government of Florence unwillingly from his uncle, Leo X, in August 1513, taking

Ottaviano de’ Medici (1482-1546) was the son of Lorenzo di Bernardetto. He belonged to a cadet branch of the family and assisted the ruling Medici as adviser and artistic administrator. Guardian of the youn Ippolito de’ Medici an Alessandro de’ Medici and a member of the Florentine government, on the accession of Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1537 as Duke of

Giuliano de’ Medici, Duke of Nemours (1479-1516) was the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was the brother of Giovanni de’ Medici, who became Pope Leo X, and Piero de’ Medici (1471–1503). Domenico Ghirlandaio portrayed Giuliano as a boy, standing next to his tutor, Angelo Poliziano.After the Medici were expelled from Florence in 1494, he spent some

Pope Clement VII (Giulio de’ Medici) was the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was the illegitimate son of Giuliano de’ Medici (1453–1478) and Fioretta Gorini. An intellectual and a renowned musician, he was a highly discriminating patron whose circle included Baldassare Castiglione and Paolo Giovio. Educated at Padua University, he travelled extensively in Europe during

Pope Leo X (1475-1521) was the son o Lorenzo the Magnificent and Clarice Orsini. His teachers included the humanists who frequented the Palazzo Medici in Florence, such as Angelo Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino. By the age of eight he was admitted into minor orders, and by 1486 he was Abbot of Montecassino and Morimondo.

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici (1463-1503) is the great-grandson of Giovanni di Averardo de’ Medici. His father was Pierfrancesco de’ Medici (1430–1476). Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was head of the junior line of the Medici. At the age of 13 he was orphaned, and he and his brother Giovanni were brought up under the guardianship of their

Lorenzo de’ Medici also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492) is probably the most well-known member of the Medici family. He is the son of Piero de’ Medici. In 1469 Piero organized a joust to celebrate Lorenzo’s marriage to Clarice Orsini, and in the same year the succession passed, without discord, to Lorenzo. The Pazzi conspiracy (1478) and

Giovanni di Cosimo de Medici (1421-1463) was the son o Cosimo de’ Medici. Although less well-known to posterity than his older brothe Piero the gouty, he may actually have been Cosimo’s preferred successor in finance and politics. He was enrolled at a young age in the Florentine guilds the Arte del Cambio and the Arte della Lana.

Piero di Cosimo (the Gouty) de Medici (1416-1469) was the son o Cosimo de’ Medici. Raised in early humanist Florence, he was trained to assume his father’s civic and cultural leadership. His artistic tastes were apparently stimulated less by the aesthetic ideals of Republican Florence, however, than by those manifested in such north Italian centers of