It was that personal and modern taste for new spaces, whether in the world of decorative arts, in painting, in music, in science or in poetry, that the exhibition "Trésor des Médicis", emphasizes by regrouping nearly 150 works and objects, all of which were seen, coveted or touched by the magnificent Florentines, since all of them come from the Medici collections.
The exhibition in the Musée Maillol invites one to enter into the very heart of the Medici palace, by recalling, among these very rarely loaned masterpieces, a history of the Medici taste, as exemplified over time and with the various heads of the Medici family, through various rooms, whether grandiose or intimate: reception room, studiolo, or cabinet of marvels, workshops for the hard stones, the library , the Medici theatre, a mathematics study-room and the chapel.
ARTKABINETT members would certainly have welcome this family of collectors post-humously to our social network -- back in the 15th and 16th centuries!
From Cosmo to Lorenzo: the glory of the Lords of Florence in the 15th century
If it was Giovanni di Bicci -- a pharmacist by trade -- who founded the Medici bank at the very end of the 14th century, it was Cosmo the Elder (seen right) who marked the advent of the future dynasty by becoming the wealthiest man in Europe.
Henceforth, the banker of Popes and of Kings after his return from exile to Florence in 1434, it was the subtle and wise Cosmo, who is at the start of the treasure and of the almost limitless reign of the Medicis. He started by using his considerable financial resources to collect antiques -- and even Islamic objects -- as was the custom in the leading families during the Renaissance.
But he also surrounded himself with works of art of every kind, commissioning the most adventurous artists like Fra Angelico, as is clear from a predella panel representing sepulchers of the Saints Cosmo and Damian.
His grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent , a talented poet and subtle political strategist, even if an ineffectual banker, became "the first citizen of Florence" without bearing that title. He carried that "Republic of the Arts" to its first peak. Lorenzo devoted outlandish sums to purchasing hard-stone vases and admitted to a passion for antique cameos, like that of Poseidon and Athena, then attributed to Pyrgotele, the only artist allowed by Alexander the Great to engrave his portrait.
It was the Magnificent who invited the young Michelangelo to share his table and to sculpt in the garden in San Marco. He also corresponded with Amerigo Vespucci, the sailor who gave his name to America, and he collected exotic objects, like Chinese celadons.
Lorenzo (seen right) also believed in Botticelliís brilliant talent: employing an exacerbated chromatism In revolutionary Adoration of the Magi, Sandro did not hesitate to position, no longer in a family chapel, but this time in the heart of Florence, the Medici family in its entirety, Cosmo the Elder, Piero the First, Lorenzo and Julian de Medici, surrounded by their court, headed by Pic de la Mirandole and Politian, like the Muses gathered together around a new Apollonian Holy Family.
The irruption of Charles VIII's French troops put a temporary end to the absolute power of the Medicis and to their aesthetic ascendancy: their palace in the Larga ó which Apollonio di Giovanni did not hesitate to represent as Priamís palace in an illuminated manuscript devoted to Virgil ó was wrecked, their collections sold at auction. By conferring on Alexander de Medici the title of duke in 1532, Charles the Fifth restored the absolute power of the family over Florence.
From Rome to Paris: two Popes for two queens
An aesthete and a cultured man , John de Medici, second son of Lorenzo, became Pope under the name of Leo X, and he did his best to buy back many of the goods that had been scattered. He provided the Medicisí patronage with a new Roman dimension, henceforth considering Florence as his private property, even sending there, with some arrogance, a rebellious Michelangelo.
A great organizer of festivities and a great collector of manuscripts, Leo X, following the example of the Magnificent, turned Rome into a paradise for artists and intellectuals. As well as Pontormo and Andrea del Sarto, he overburdened Raphael with work.
A new visual acuity, almost Flemish in its hyperrealism, appeared in 1515 in the outstanding´Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami" (shown left), Leo Xís librarian, completely dressed in a symphonic red, casting his eyes heavenwards.
Gazing in awe at that painting, Bonaparte and his followers did not hesitate to borrow it momentarily from the Medici collections. Julius de Medici, illegitimate son of Julian, Lorenzo's brother, became Pope in his turn, after his cousin Leo X, under the name Clement VII. If that tragic Pope saw the sacking of Rome and the break with Henry VIII of England, he nonetheless remained a sensitive patron.
Popes behaving like kings, the Medicis undertook a far-seeing matrimonial policy, which led two women to the throne of France. Placed under the direct protection of Clement VII, married the future king Henri II in 1533, bringing with her a dowry of 28000 écus in jewelry.
Very attentive to art forms, the new queen was above all very fond of portraits: she gathered together over 700, including a portrait of herself that she sent to Florence, as a dowry for her grand-daughter Christine de Lorraine.
A gifted draughtswoman, an outstanding ballet dancer, fascinated by jewelry and endowed with a huge fortune, Marie de Medici (seen here), daughter of Francis the First, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in her turn married the king of France Henri IV in 1600.
Her marriage having inspired the birth of the opera in Florence, she begged her uncle Ferdinand de Medici to allow the composer Giulio Caccini to come to Paris with his daughter Francesca, a singer but also a composer. She loved to call upon the baroque opulence of two Flemish artists, Frans Pourbus, who painted her portrait wearing all her pearls , and Rubens, who had attended her wedding in Florence.
Tomorrow: Medici's moving into the 17th and 18th centuries...
