As the medieval times began to draw to an end, an era of a new found sophistication and artistic contribution was about to begin. In Florence, Italy, in around the years 1350 to 1400 a new era started arose, the Renaissance. Unlike the Medieval times, the Renaissance valued art, education, and individual skill. This is called this humanism; humanism is broken into 3 categories, individualism, secularism, and classicism. The De’ Medici family was a wealthy family who gained control and power over much of Florence by using their individual skill, political power, and their intellectual intelligence. The De’ Medici family ruled as an uncrowned monarchy, they had considerable power over the people of Florence but were never crowned as kings. Due to the De’ Medici family, culture flourished, and Florence became the cultural center of Europe. Lorenzo De’ Medici, or Lorenzo the Magnificent, best represents the humanist ideals because his strong use of individualism, they created their own power and wealth and eventually controlled …show more content…
Lorenzo De’ Medici encouraged and supported one of the greatest artist periods in time, the last decade of his reign of Florence was the highlight of artistic contributions to the Renaissance. The Renaissance gave people a chance to make something of themselves from practically nothing, your position in society was not determined by heredity anymore. The De’ Medici family was a great example of this, through immense trade and business skills, they made Florence become the artistic culture capital of Europe. Lorenzo De’ Medici only added to this, he captivated the artistic potential of many well known artists today, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Lorenzo had a great deal of political power, “Under his control, the Florentine economy expanded significantly and the lower class