Abstract

The Medici family rose to political and social preeminence in Florence during the fifteenth century and ultimately became the de facto rulers of Florence, although the city-state remained a republic in name. The Medici, especially Cosimo il Vecchio de’ Medici and Lorenzo il Magnifico de’ Medici, became renowned for their artistic, architectural, and humanistic patronage. They were masters in the manipulation of art and space to create potent political messages and social meaning for their audiences. Within the Palazzo Medici, the family utilized the strategic commissioning and placement of art to create carefully controlled areas, defined in this study as “reality spaces,” which impressed on visitors new realities and histories as imagined by the Medici.

The reality space of the Medici courtyard and garden seized upon themes of martial violence and physical brutality in the figures of Donatello’s bronze David and Judith and Holofernes as well as two ancient Marsyas statues. The style and placement of these figures suggested for the audience invented histories of Medici military preeminence as well as the Medici divine authority to brutally suppress threats to family power. The Medici private chapel, then, proposed Medici presence in the retinue of the biblical three kings who journeyed to the Christ child, portraying the Medici as kings themselves appointed by Christ and impressing ideas of a new golden age of peace, prosperity, and a flowering of the arts under Medici rule. These carefully wrought reality spaces served not only to justify, but also to bolster and maintain, the family’s claims to political and social power for decades to come.

Advisor

Morrow, Kara

Second Advisor

Shaya, Josephine

Department

Classical Studies; Art and Art History

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities

Publication Date

2023

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2023 Isabelle C. Hoover