The Medici: Bankers, Popes and Princes
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Monday 26 February 2024
(11am-3.20pm) - Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BE
- Lecturer: Dr Paula Nuttall
The Medici were the wealthiest and most powerful family in renaissance Florence. Between c. 1420 and c. 1560 they rose from bankers to being de facto rulers of Florence and eventually popes and dukes. Discerning and innovative patrons, from the start they recognised the value of art as a tool for expressing their status and power, enjoying the services – and often also the friendship – of the greatest Florentine renaissance artists. Indeed, to tell their story is also to chart the story of Florentine art.
This study day will trace the rise of the Medici from the banker Cosimo ‘Pater Patriae’, his son Piero the Gouty and grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent, to the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII, and Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It looks at how the Medici used art to express not only their personal tastes, but also their changing status, and at how their patronage shaped Florentine art. In the course of doing so, we shall encounter some of the greatest works of the renaissance, by Brunelleschi, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Gozzoli, Botticelli, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Bronzino and Cellini to name but a few.
Lecture 1
First among Equals: Cosimo de Medici and the Art of Civic Virtue
Lecture 2
Painting, Poetry and Prestige: The Golden Age of Lorenzo the Magnificent
Lecture 3
Popes and Princes from Leo X to Cosimo I: Ambitions Achieved
Lecturer
Dr Paula Nuttall wrote her doctoral thesis on the reception of Netherlandish painting in fifteenth-century Florence. She is a specialist in artistic relations between Italy and Northern Europe. Her acclaimed book is From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting, 1400-1500 (Yale University Press, 2004). Paula is Director of the V&A Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Year Course. She lectures for a range of other UK institutions and societies.
Waiting list only
This event is fully booked. Members may apply for one of the limited number of waiting list places, but no payment should be made. If a place becomes available, the waiting list will be contacted in chronological order and payment will be requested at that time. Please contact the event organiser if in doubt.