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The Medici: A Tale of Fifteen Generations
Book by Cleugh, James
397 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 12, 2019
In deutsch gelesen 2016
January 3, 2025
De’ Medici The Magnificent
The cover art discloses much about the Medici dominance of the era which we are please to call the Renaissance. The portrait presents the marriage of Catherine de Medici, soon to be Queen Consort of France and great granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, to the Duc d’ Orleans, future King Henri II of France with the ceremony conducted by none other than her great uncle, Pope Clement VII, Giuliano de Medici. Clement VII being the second of four Medici popes. By the way, both were age 14 and Catherine was wearing high heels in the portrait, perhaps the first in Europe but they still failed to get Henri’s attention.
The Medici put Florence on the map and overtook Rome as the center of the new Renaissance culture through the revival of Greek architecture, art, language and thus Greek philosophy, especially in that of Plato. The opening of ancient Greece, and Rome, was the greatest achievement of the Renaissance period and made Florence the center of the Renaissance. It was the Medici European banking network which also served as an information super highway that proliferated the new learning and greatly contributed to Medici power network and the ubiquity of the Medici. However, in the ubiquity of so many Medici cardinals, popes and queens, the Medici became victims of their own success. For example, with the Medici Popes and Medici Queens of France, Rome and Paris once again surpassed Florence.
In the Medici, we have the collision of contraries and the meeting of dichotomies as we see the juxta positioning of high culture and low politics. The relentless competition for business and struggle for power led, via wealthy patronage, to the creation of great art. From the low came the high, from the base came the sublime, from the felonious came progress. As has been asked, was Cosmos de Medici the father of Florence or the God Father of Florence? Money did not necessarily buy political power in Florence but patronage and clientelism did, what we might euphemistically call networking. The Medici used private wealth to advance the public interest and make Florence a great city. The Medici were patrons of the arts, supporters for the sciences, bankers, merchants, everything but official public office holders and were thus in a position to be great public benefactors. It is interesting to note the move from a pre-liberal republic where wealthy private citizens will perform the public jobs for no money to a post-liberal republic where the actual politicians will do anything for money except their jobs. What both republics have in common is their fundamental plutocratic character.
Banking and lending money at interest was labeled with the pejorative of usury at the time. Medieval banking was not difficult enough, but this made banking challenging on the metaphysical level and what better way to expiate this sin but to sponsor works of art for the church. It is a curious form of inverted church logic whereby the people who borrow the money under free contracts and mutually agreed to terms can then cast blame upon those who lend them the money for: lending them the money. The borrower had an almost religious justification when in default. Add to this a familiar problem of today, the lending of money to political entities for political reasons and the predictable almost inevitable problem of sovereign government debt and default. This plagued the Medic banking system and threatened its very existence along with the sinful cloud of usury hanging over the lender and the sanctified advantages of the debtor.
In terms of legacy, there is the Medici who destroyed the Florentine Republic and ended of Florentine liberty. Bet then again, there is the Medici who brought needed political order and a sense of political tranquility and stability otherwise missing in the Florentine Republic but the greatest heritage must be in their role as the greatest patrons of learning and the arts. They made spending money on art and beauty, private investments to improve the public space for the benefit of the community, acceptable and even expected. This is a fortunate tradition of philanthropy still with us today.
The cover art discloses much about the Medici dominance of the era which we are please to call the Renaissance. The portrait presents the marriage of Catherine de Medici, soon to be Queen Consort of France and great granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, to the Duc d’ Orleans, future King Henri II of France with the ceremony conducted by none other than her great uncle, Pope Clement VII, Giuliano de Medici. Clement VII being the second of four Medici popes. By the way, both were age 14 and Catherine was wearing high heels in the portrait, perhaps the first in Europe but they still failed to get Henri’s attention.
The Medici put Florence on the map and overtook Rome as the center of the new Renaissance culture through the revival of Greek architecture, art, language and thus Greek philosophy, especially in that of Plato. The opening of ancient Greece, and Rome, was the greatest achievement of the Renaissance period and made Florence the center of the Renaissance. It was the Medici European banking network which also served as an information super highway that proliferated the new learning and greatly contributed to Medici power network and the ubiquity of the Medici. However, in the ubiquity of so many Medici cardinals, popes and queens, the Medici became victims of their own success. For example, with the Medici Popes and Medici Queens of France, Rome and Paris once again surpassed Florence.
In the Medici, we have the collision of contraries and the meeting of dichotomies as we see the juxta positioning of high culture and low politics. The relentless competition for business and struggle for power led, via wealthy patronage, to the creation of great art. From the low came the high, from the base came the sublime, from the felonious came progress. As has been asked, was Cosmos de Medici the father of Florence or the God Father of Florence? Money did not necessarily buy political power in Florence but patronage and clientelism did, what we might euphemistically call networking. The Medici used private wealth to advance the public interest and make Florence a great city. The Medici were patrons of the arts, supporters for the sciences, bankers, merchants, everything but official public office holders and were thus in a position to be great public benefactors. It is interesting to note the move from a pre-liberal republic where wealthy private citizens will perform the public jobs for no money to a post-liberal republic where the actual politicians will do anything for money except their jobs. What both republics have in common is their fundamental plutocratic character.
Banking and lending money at interest was labeled with the pejorative of usury at the time. Medieval banking was not difficult enough, but this made banking challenging on the metaphysical level and what better way to expiate this sin but to sponsor works of art for the church. It is a curious form of inverted church logic whereby the people who borrow the money under free contracts and mutually agreed to terms can then cast blame upon those who lend them the money for: lending them the money. The borrower had an almost religious justification when in default. Add to this a familiar problem of today, the lending of money to political entities for political reasons and the predictable almost inevitable problem of sovereign government debt and default. This plagued the Medic banking system and threatened its very existence along with the sinful cloud of usury hanging over the lender and the sanctified advantages of the debtor.
In terms of legacy, there is the Medici who destroyed the Florentine Republic and ended of Florentine liberty. Bet then again, there is the Medici who brought needed political order and a sense of political tranquility and stability otherwise missing in the Florentine Republic but the greatest heritage must be in their role as the greatest patrons of learning and the arts. They made spending money on art and beauty, private investments to improve the public space for the benefit of the community, acceptable and even expected. This is a fortunate tradition of philanthropy still with us today.
February 5, 2012
Good layout and good information
Read
January 7, 2019Too much and too dry. Not bad as a text book, but not something I have the brain energy for.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews