Medici's Participation In The Renaissance

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Many historians consider an increase of wealth following the black death to be one the major contributing factor to the Renaissance. Since a large portion of the population was gone, there was a crop increase which lead to lower prices and henceforth more excess wealth. With new found wealth allowed citizens at patronize art. Among the largest of these art patrons were the Medici family family of Florence. The Medici’s were a powerful and politically involved family of extreme wealth. The family used their political and finical power to fund art through Italy. They held this power for the majority of the time from the 13th century until the 18th although the bulk of the family’s came with Cosimo the Elder in 1434. Through the years the family …show more content…

The best way to fully express the extent to which the Medici’s supported art is the 600,000 florins they spent on it for the public. The Medici were not the richest but made an effort to always be the largest patrons. This was seen when Cosimo became involved with the build of the San Lorenzo and contributed more the Strozzis the wealthiest family involved. Perhaps the greatest single possession of the Medici family was a massive villa built for Cosimo. Included in the villa was a chapel build by Gozzoli which is still today this day a popular tourist site. In addition to the chapel the villa had a statue Bandinelli, a courtyard design by Michelozzo, and painting by Luca Giordano. The villa was only one of a countless amounts of the art owned by the Medici family. Another great commission was the bronze statue made by Donatello made for the wedding of a Medici family member. These are only two of an endless amount of art owned by the Medici family. Their collections, seemingly endless in size included art of mediums from statues to carvings to paintings. These kinds of commissions provided the necessary money needed for art to flourish in the