Lorenzo de' Medici by Raphael
By STAN PARCHIN
February 25, 2010
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| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi). (Italian, 1483-1520). Lorenzo de' Medici (1518). Oil on canvas. 38 x 31 in. (97 x 79 cm) (38 x 31 in.). © Christie's Images Ltd. 2007. |
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| Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) (Italian, 1483-1520). Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi (1518). Tempera on wood. 155.5 x 119.5 cm (61.2 x 47 in.) © Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. |
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| Attributed to François Clouet (French, ca. 1516-1572). Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (undated). Oil on panel. © Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France. |
Lorenzo de' Medici (1518), a portrait of sound provenance or ownership history by Italian Renaissance master Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael (1483-1520), was offered for sale at an auction by Christie's London on July 5, 2007. The painting was owned by Ira Spanierman since 1968. Its issues of attribution to Raphael were tackled by Sir Charles Robinson (1824-1913) and firmly resolved in 1971 by the prolific Konrad Oberhuber, former director of Vienna's Albertina Museum.
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (Lorenzo II) (1492-1519) was the grandson of Lorenzo de' Medici, il Magnifico (the Magnificent) (1449-1492), the Florentine Republic's ingenious statesman, supporter of the Neoplatonic Academy and patron of the arts. He was also the nephew of Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (1475-1521), eventually elected Pope Leo X (r. 1513-21).
Italian Renaissance Politics
Raised in Rome, Lorenzo II (Lorenzino) reluctantly accepted the mantle of Florentine government from the pope in August 1513. He was subsequently made Captain General of the Florentine Republic in 1515 and received the title of Duke of Urbino from the nepotistic pontiff in 1516. His authority in Urbino was briefly eclipsed in 1517 by Francesco Maria I della Rovere (1490-1538), a condottiere (hired mercenary), the duchy's ousted ruler and nephew of Giuliano della Rovere (1443-1513), the deceased Pope Julius II (r. 1503-13). During the War of Urbino (1517) that ensued between the bitter rival factions, Lorenzo was wounded by the ball of an arquebus or matchlock gun and retired to Tuscany. With the excommunicated Francesco's infantrymen overwhelmed by the sheer number of Lorenzo's troops, the penurious leader and his unpaid soldiers retreated from the duchy to Mantua. By treaty with Leo X that September, Francesco ceded control of Urbino back to Lorenzo until the Florentine's untimely demise in 1520 and the pope's death the following year, at which time the region reverted to della Rovere rule. An act of despicable treachery in 1538 sealed Francesco's fate; the reinstated duke was insidiously poisoned and died in Pesaro, where he was lord since 1513.
It was to Lorenzo II de' Medici that the exiled philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) dedicated his Il principe (The Prince) in 1513, the text exhorting him to unite Italy under Florentine dominion. This dream was never to be realized, especially with the disinterested Lorenzino. Strategically arranged marriages were a tool of dynastic politics and diplomacy in Renaissance Europe. And by 1518, Lorenzo once again found himself to be a pawn in the plans of his wily uncle, Pope Leo X, to consolidate Medici power domestically and strengthen it on an international scale. The pontiff arranged for his nephew to marry Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne (ca. 1500?-1519), the cousin of François I (r. 1515-47), the Valois King of France.
Raphael's Portrait
As was customary at the time, portraits of Lorenzo and Madeleine, who had not yet met, were exchanged well before their nuptials as a means of visual introduction. Leo X commissioned the accomplished Raphael to paint his nephew's image for the French princess to see. Lorenzo de' Medici features the artist's dignified subject outfitted in a gold tunic, standing upright against a deep green background. Over the noble's shoulders is draped an abundant red and gold cape, luxurious fur on its neck and in its lining. These elements of fashion befitted a person of aristocratic status during the Italian High Renaissance. Raphael's ability to record texture accurately through paint is evident in his remarkably sensitive rendering of the delicate details in the fabrics of the Duke's sumptuous attire. Lorenzo carries in his right hand what is quite possibly a portrait miniature of his bride-to-be.
Lorenzo II arrived in France; he married Madeleine in the château d'Amboise on May 2, 1518. In attendance at the couple's wedding banquet in Florence was Raphael. The artist represented the Medici pontiff and his portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi (1518) was displayed at the occasion.
The adolescent Madeleine conceived a child shortly after her marriage to Lorenzo. Tragic events in the couple's brief life together unfolded very quickly thereafter. Within days of the birth of Caterina (1519-89), her parents died in rapid succession. Madeleine perished first, possibly from complications after childbirth or the plague. Lorenzo then succumbed to syphilis, the plague or tuberculosis. (Their exact causes of death remain a mystery.) Years later, Caterina married King Henri II (r. 1547-59) and emerged as Catherine de' Medici, the queen of Reformation France during its tumultuous Wars of Religion (1562-98). Raphael's Lorenzo de' Medici, a portrait of Caterina's father, reflects the rich history of Italian Renaissance culture from which the Florentine ruler's privileged daughter emerged.
Sources
Chapman, Hugo, Tom Henry and Carol Plattozza, et al. Raphael: From Urbino to Rome (exh. cat.). London: National Gallery Company, 2004.
Dixon, Annette (ed.). Women Who Ruled: Queens, Goddesses, Amazons in Renaissance and Baroque Art (exh. cat.). Merrill Publishers Limited, 2002.
Hibbert, Christopher. The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999.
Thoenes, Christof. Raphael. Köln, Germany: Taschen Verlag, 2005.