The five most desired artists at the court of Lorenzo the Magnificent

Botticelli
Ghirlandaio
Verrocchio
Filippino Lippi
Pollaioluolo Brothers

The main artists during the life time of Cosimo de Medici (il Vecchio)

Brunelleschi
Ghiberti
Donatello
Masaccio

When did Lorenzo the Magnificient rule? 1469-1492

When did Cosimo the Elder Rule? 1434 – 1464
When did Piero the Gouty rule? 1464 – 1469

Relationship between Cosimo il Vecchio – Piero the Gouty – Lorenzo the Magnificent: Gandpa-
son-grandson

Masterpieces by Ghirladaio in Florence: The fresco teacher of Michelangelo

most famous works are the frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel, The Sassetti Chapel, The Last
Supers in San Marco and Ognissanti

The most famous paintings by Botticelli are the Birth of Venus and Primavera (Spring) as well as
the paintings in the Sistine Chapel

Lorenzo the Magnificent was married to Clarice Orsini

His mother was Lucrezia Tornabuoni. He is the cousin of Leonardo Tornaboni (‘friend’ of
Leonardo da Vinci)

Lorenzo’s Brother was Giuliano the Medici killed in the Pazzi Conspiracy 1478

What is the Pazzi Conspiracy and when did it happen?

The “Pazzi conspiracy” is one of the most heinous and famous bloody events in the history of
Italy and took place in the Cathedral of Florence on April 26th, 1478.

Florence was at the time one of the richest and most powerful cities in Italy; the culture and the
shops of artists and artisans were flourishing. Thanks to the economic benefits of bankers and
merchants came to life, the great monuments and artworks by Leonardo, Verrocchio, Botticelli and
Ghirlandaio. Florence was a Republic, but its political power was held by the Medici family, whose
leaders were Lorenzo (known as “the Magnificent”) and his younger brother Giuliano.

The primacy of the Medici’s Florence aroused soon both internal and external envy and jealousy
and thus, took shape the idea of the bloody conspiracy, that was in fact an attempted coup d’etat.
The puppeteer of the operation was Pope Sixtus IV Della Rovere, who wanted to oust the Medici
to make his nephew Girolamo Riario lord of Florence. The pontiff found as allies the nearby rival
states of Florence: the Republic of Siena, the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchies of Ferrara and
Montefeltro. Within the city walls, Jacopo and Francesco, members of the Pazzi family, powerful
bankers, participated in the conspiracy, joined by the archbishop of Pisa Francesco Salviati.

The place and time choosen for the assassination of the two Medici brothers even more have
stained with impiety the evil plan: the Holy Easter Sunday mass, in the Cathedral, in the presence
of all the citizens, and at the holiest moment of the liturgy, at the elevation of the consecrated Host.

When everyone knelt down and bowed their heads, Bernardo Bandini and Francesco
de’Pazzi backstabbed respectively Giuliano and his brother Lorenzo. Giuliano immediately fell
under the Bandini’s dagger strokes; instead Lorenzo, only wounded, escaped. While Pazzi raged on
the battered body of the first, Bandini pursued the other, but Francesco Nori intervened between
them, and offered his life for his friend. Lorenzo fled to the Sacristy of the Masses helped by some
companions, including Cavalcanti and the poet Luigi Pulci, who closed behind them the
large bronze door by Luca della Robbia.

One of them, Bartolomeo della Stufa, climbing up the internal staircase on Luca della Robbia's
Singers Gallery, observed the Giuliano's dead body and communicated to the others when the right
occasion to escape out. Meanwhile, the conspirators tried to raise the people against the Medici
faction to the cry of “Freedom! Freedom!"; but they had not reckoned on the true sentiment of the
Florentines ... The people did not follow the killers, and rather attacked them and began a real
manhunt. Killed by the crowd or sentenced to death by the government, all the conspirators lost
their lives and their names were damned from the memory of the city. Thus, Florence did not lose
its freedom, on the contrary, began its most prosperous historical period, remembered as the golden
age of Lorenzo the Magnificent.