How Did Lorenzo De Medici's Influencer Of The Renaissance?

Dante, Petrarch, Giotto, Brunelleschi, Da Vinci, and Michelangelo all would not be remembered without the influence of Lorenzo De Medici. Lorenzo De Medici is a key influencer of the Renaissance. He is best known for being a patron of the arts; however he had many accomplishments in both his artistic and political life. The Medici family is famous for having a political dynasty which Lorenzo furthered by enforcing control of Florence’s politics, diplomacy, and the establishment of schools, libraries, and churches (Wagner). He embodies the success driven mindset of the era and facilitated a balance of his responsibilities and passions in order to do so. Lorenzo De Medici integrated art and politics together, which enabled the Renaissance to

thrive.
Lorenzo De Medici was highly influential politically.

The Medici name is not only remembered because of Lorenzo. The Medicis were a Florentine family of bankers who ruled as despots for several generations (Lorenzo De’ Medici) (Facts). Lorenzo ruled as an autocrat from 1469 until he died 1492 (Axelrod). Lorenzo had a political life without art that included conspiracies against him, partnership with the Pope, and keeping peace among Florence (The Special Case) (Conversations). He had a reputation for being benevolent and caring for the city of Florence as well as its citizens (Axelrod) (The Special Case). He showed this by throwing festivals, partnering with Popes, and implementing better education (Conversations) (Axelrod). One act he did that won the favor of the people of Florence was traveling to Naples to amend the issue of a Pope who was threatening Florence therefore putting his life on the line for the city (Axelrod). He did however attempt to form political alliances by sending leaders of other countries artwork including Alexander the Great and King Darius (The Special Case) which in return popularized the artists that he funded by exposing their work to extremely influential people around the world. Lorenzo differentiated Florence from other popular cities by promoting it as a cultural city (The Special Case). Lorenzo established an artistic reputation for Florence as a tactic to make the city more important, bring attention to the city itself, and gain monetarily from the fame of the

artists.
Although Lorenzo held a political position, his true passion was art and all things relative to beauty. Lorenzo himself was a poet who wrote several sonnets which in many he discusses the topic of beauty. In one Medici states that, “Therefore, whoever diligently seeks the true definition of love, finds it to be nothing other than an appetite for beauty…” (On Love And Beauty). Other poems he wrote approached miscellaneous subjects that were on his mind, such as this excerpt, “How every hope of ours is raised in vain, How spoiled the plans we laid so fair and well, How ignorance throughout the earth doth reign, Death, who is the mistress of us all can tell” (Lucchi). He desired to be freed from his political duties to do more of his creative hobbies (Trombly). Despite this,