The Medici Family — Banking, Patronage, and Power 1389-1737

Show Botticelli's Primavera (~1482). Ask: Who paid for this? Why this scene? Bridge to PATRONAGE — Renaissance art was commissioned + paid + agenda-shaped by patrons.

• Display Botticelli's Primavera
• Pose patron-question
• Introduce 'patronage' vocabulary

M-7-S-CUL-03-B Illustration

High-resolution reproduction of Sandro Botticelli's Primavera c.1482 Uffizi Florence with figure-key labels: Mercury / Three Graces / Venus / Cupid / Spring / Flora / Chloris / Zephyrus + Neoplatonic interpretive notes.

The Medici family — Giovanni di Bicci 1360-1429 founds bank in Florence + secures papal account 1397; Cosimo il Vecchio 1389-1464 dominates Florence behind republican facade; Piero il Gottoso 1416-1469 short reign; Lorenzo il Magnifico 1449-1492 — patron of Botticelli, Michelangelo (lived with Medici as teenager), Ficino (Platonic Academy + Plato translation 1484), Pico della Mirandola; Lorenzo's son Giovanni becomes Pope Leo X 1513-1521 — Vatican-commissioned Raphael frescoes; great-granddaughter Catherine de' Medici Queen of France 1547-1559 + regent 1560-1574; Marie de' Medici Queen of France 1600-1610. The Medici fall 1494 (Charles VIII French invasion + Savonarola 1494-1498 + Pazzi Conspiracy 1478 backlash); return 1512; expelled again 1527; return 1530; Grand Duchy 1569-1737. Three named Medici commissions: (1) Brunelleschi's dome 1420-1436 — Cosimo's father Giovanni initial funding; (2) Donatello's bronze David ~1440 — Cosimo private commission for Palazzo Medici courtyard, first life-size bronze nude since antiquity; (3) Botticelli's Primavera ~1482 + Birth of Venus ~1485 — Lorenzo cousin Pierfrancesco's commission. Patronage = power-shaped art.

• Patronage was funded by banking; banking grew by managing the papacy. Power-money-art interconnect.

  model Banking + papal-tax-collection contracts. The Medici Bank had branches in 8+ cities (Florence + Geneva + Bruges + London + Lyon + Venice + Rome + Avignon). The papal account meant the Medici handled the Church's massive tax collection — taking commission. After 1494 collapse + restoration, the family transitioned from banking to nobility (Grand Duchy 1569).

  prompt How did the Medici stay rich enough to patronize art for 4+ generations?
• Ask MG-7 Q8 Encounter Multi-Perspective: from whose perspective does Botticelli's Primavera tell its story? From Lorenzo's elite Neoplatonic circle. Whose perspective is silent? Florentine workers + women + servants.

  model Primavera is mythological + Neoplatonic (Mercury + Venus + Three Graces + Spring + Flora + Zephyrus + Chloris) — Lorenzo's circle's Neoplatonic-Christian synthesis; a Venetian altarpiece foregrounds devotional saints + donor portraits + family symbols. Patron agenda shapes content directly.

  prompt Compare Botticelli's Primavera (Medici-commissioned) to a Venetian merchant's altarpiece (e.g., a private church commission). What do the commissioners' agendas shape?

• Name 4 Medici generations from Giovanni di Bicci to Catherine de' Medici.
• Name 3 Medici-funded works/projects.
• What is patronage?

M-7-S-CUL-03-A Diagram

18x24 inch diagram MG-10 from Giovanni di Bicci through Cosimo il Vecchio + Lorenzo il Magnifico + Pope Leo X + Catherine de' Medici — 4-6 generations with named popes (Leo X + Clement VII) + queens of France (Catherine + Marie) + bankers + cardinals + scholars; commissions listed under each major Medici.

MG-10 Diagram

MEDICI Family Tree — 18x24 inch diagram from Giovanni di Bicci (1360-1429) through Cosimo il Vecchio (1389-1464) through Lorenzo il Magnifico (1449-1492) through Catherine de' Medici (Queen of France 1547-1559) through Marie de' Medici (Queen of France 1600-1610) — 6 generations with named popes (Leo X 1513-1521 + Clement VII 1523-1534) + queens of France + bankers + cardinals + scholars.

• Pairs: label 4 Medici on MG-10 family tree with their roles + 1 famous commission per person.

  scaffold MG-10 reverse lists 3 commissions per major Medici.
• Source-card practice: apply MG-7 Q1 SOURCING + Q8 ENCOUNTER to Botticelli's Primavera as a commissioned-art primary source.

  scaffold Sentence frames on MG-7 reverse.

M-7-S-CUL-03-C Illustration

High-resolution photograph of Donatello's bronze David ~1440 Bargello Museum Florence — first life-size bronze nude since antiquity; commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici for Palazzo Medici courtyard.

• Name 3 Medici and one commission each.
• What is patronage, in one sentence?
• One sticky to MG-23 about who funds art today.

• Recite FIVE PROMISES
• Connect: who funds your school's art today?
• Preview Lesson 4 — Renaissance women's experience

• Find an image of one Medici commission (architecture, painting, sculpture, manuscript) and bring; name the commissioner + artist + date.