What is Lorenzo de' Medici?
[[File:Verrocchio Lorenzo de Medici.jpg|thumb|Lorenzo by [[Verrocchio]]]] '''Lorenzo de' Medici''' (1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[statesman]] and [[de facto]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Kent | first = F.W. | year = 2006 | location = USA | title = Lorenzo De' Medici and the Art of Magnificence | publisher = [[JHU Press]] | pages = 248 | isbn = 0801886279 }}</ref> ruler of the [[Florentine Republic]] during the [[Italian Renaissance]]. He was called '''Lorenzo the Magnificent''' (''Lorenzo il Magnifico'') by Florentines. He was a [[diplomat]], [[politician]] and [[patron]] of [[scholar]]s, [[artist]]s, and [[poet]]s. He is probably best known for what he gave to the world of [[art]]. He gave large amounts of money to artists so that they could make very good artwork. When he died, the Golden Age of Florence ended. The [[peace]] he helped keep between the many Italian states collapsed when he died. Lorenzo de' Medici is buried in the [[Medici Chapel]] in [[Florence]]. ==Renaissance== Lorenzo was an artist. He wrote [[poetry]] in [[Tuscan dialect|Tuscan]]. Lorenzo's agents took a lot of classical works from the east. Lorenzo had a large [[workshop]] to copy his books and spread their content across [[Europe]]. He supported the development of [[humanism]] through his friends who studied [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[philosophers]], and tried to merge the ideas of [[Plato]] with [[Christianity]]. In this group were the philosophers [[Marsilio Ficino]], [[Poliziano]] and [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]]. == Related pages == * [[Medici]] == More reading == [[Image:Medici - Rappresentazione dei santi Giovanni e Paolo, circa 1485 - 2411117 Scan00017.tif|thumb|''Rappresentazione dei santi Giovanni e Paolo'']] * Miles J. Unger, ''Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de Medici'' (Simon and Schuster 2008), biography of Lorenzo. * Christopher Hibbert, ''The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall'' (Morrow-Quill, 1980); general history of the family. * F. W. Kent, ''Lorenzo de- Med