Lorenzo de Medici: Father of the Renaissance

Arijeet Sensharma, Ben Cohen, & Jarman Taylor Senior Division Group Website

Process Paper When learning about the Renaissance in a World History Course, one question remained unanswered- how did a thirst for knowledge materialize into the movement that would effectively herald in the modern age? When researching the answer to this, 15th Century Florence, Italy came to the forefront: could it be that nearly all the great artists and scholars simply came from Florence? It quickly became evident that then effective leader of Florence Lorenzo de Medici had an immense role to play in the first flowerings of the Renaissance. Upon finding that under Lorenzo, Florence was transformed from a traditional business state to the focal point of European culture, we knew that he fit the topic perfectly. When researching a man who lived five centuries ago, we decided starting in the past would be appropriate. We read Machiavellis The Prince, which was in fact dedicated to Lorenzo, which was both a fascinating read and a guidebook to the political and social climate of the time period. After gaining more background, we looked at the most famous art works that emerged from the Renaissance. Although we knew that many of the foremost artists emerged as a result of a partnership with Lorenzo, it was striking to discover the extent to which the art itself reflected the Medici prince. These works were highly valuable, demonstrating elements of Renaissance art, the influence Lorenzo had on them, and the lasting effects of the movement. After filling in the remaining information, it was time to assemble the ideas into a project. With various members of our groups having previously participated in the website and performance categories, we decided a website would be the most effective way to present our research. It would give us the opportunity to structure our ideas

around the works of art so central to the theme; use of multimedia is one of the clearest advantages to creating a website. We started the creation of the website in perhaps the reverse order as normal; we set up our images as a first roadmap. With a topic so dependent on art, the original works provided great organizational structure to the site, and from there the primary task was to put the research into writing that would combine with the embedded paintings to form a cohesive argument. Europe before the time of Lorenzo was a society rigidly bound to the religious guidelines of the time- Lorenzo himself was from a family of bankers and politicians. Through his patronage and art, Lorenzo transformed Florence to the point where the arts played a role in even the business life of Florence." Lorenzo clearly was a catalyst in the blossoming cultural and social movement- his influence both allowed some of the greatest artists of the time to flourish and made its mark on the artistic styles of the Renaissance. In every way possible, Lorenzos rule was a turning point in history- a turning point that transformed a strictly traditional, religious society into a free-thinking, creative, and flourishing people. (499 words)