THE QUINCENTENARY OF LORENZO DEI MEDICI 1449–1949

Abstract

Many-sidedness was the goal of Renaissance man and no one came nearer to its achievement than Lorenzo dei Medici, the five hundredth anniversary of whose birth was celebrated last year. In the course of his forty-three years of life Lorenzo was the head of an international banking company, the directive force in Itallian politics, a poet of the first rank, and a determining influence in the development of Florentine culture. The exhibitions on view in Florence from May to October, 1949, were designed to illustrate the entire range of his character and interests. They fulfilled their purpose nobly and gave to those who saw them an unforgettable impression of the rich civilization of the Laurentian age. Lorenzo and the Arts formed the subject of the exhibition arranged on the piano nobile of the Palazzo Strozzi, whilst a selection of documents on the floor above illustrated the various phases of Lorenzo's life. The Biblioteca Laurenziana showed a magnificent collection of manuscripts—255 in all—drawn from the Medicean libraries. The organizers of the exhibition in the Palazzo Strozzi cast their nets widely. Side by side with well-known works of art from the Florentine galleries were others obtained from public and private collections throughout Italy and Europe. One of the most attractive of the decorated cassoni, which formed a feature of the exhibition, came from the Worcester Art Gallery. Here an unknown Florentine artist depicts in the spirit of a fairy tale three scenes from the visit of the Emperor Frederick III and his bride to Rome for his coronation in 1452. Francesco Botticini's Portrait of a Youth, which shows his work at its best, was contributed by the King of Sweden. The Earl of Harewood sent a Portrait of a Scholar, generally attributed to Piero di Cosimo, and a charming portrait of a lady of the Sassetti family by Ghirlandaio came from the Metropolitan Museum of New York. As the above examples show, the exhibition was not confined to works of art definitely connected with Lorenzo. Its aim was to illustrate, as a whole, the quality of Florentine art of the Quattrocento. Antonio Pollaiuolo was particularly well represented, in the first place by the profile portrait of a lady from the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, which, after long controversy as to its authorship, the weight of the evidence assigns to his hand. Some slight justification for the appearance of this master-piece in a Medici exhibition is derived from an inscription found on the back describing the sitter as “uxor Johannis de Bardi.” Among less known works by the same artist were some striking portraits, several bronzes and an exquisite statuette in terracotta from a private Florentine collection. These exhibits did much to substantiate the view taken by the author of the catalogue that Antonio Pollaiuolo was a significant and indeed a dominating influence in Florentine art of the third quarter of the century.