In the modern world there are no things more expensive than objects of art, and the prices of some works of great masters can stun anyone. However, this was not always the case. To understand how such a strange connection between art and wealth began, it is necessary to return to 600 years ago. In the Renaissance, there was a significant clash of market and masterpieces.
And the rich, imperious and merciless Medici family was behind this, at its own expense turning Florence into one of the most beautiful cities in the world. They were the first major collectors of contemporary art in history. However, it was not only the love of beauty that moved them.
Medici Balls
In Florence it is impossible to run away from Medici - wherever you look, you will certainly meet the family coat of arms: a golden shield, which shows five red balls and one blue, with three royal lilies. The last Medici was granted by Louis XI in honor of his special location. But about the presence of the remaining balls there are a lot of legends.
Whatever they mean, it is unlikely that the other family had (or have) a simpler, but so recognizable coat of arms.
Kings do not give loans!
The extraordinary journey of the richest Italian family began with Giovanni di Bichchi Medici, an ordinary moneylender, who became the first Florentine banker.
Giovanni was born and raised in poverty, therefore, having earned some money by honest labor, he decided to earn extra money by giving on credit.
At that time, the bank was an ordinary table set at the entrance to the market. Translated from Italian "bank" this is the "table". The bankers behind him tried to lure customers by shouting out good deals. "I have 50 florins, I can give them to you before Christmas! You will return 60 florins to me back!" - That’s how it all sounded.
Usury during the Renaissance was risky, because there were not so many honest people. When lenders did not receive their money back, they defiantly broke their table. Translated from Italian, “the table is broken” is “the bank of the rotto”. Now you know where the word bankrupt came from.
The Medici quickly realized that the royal people prefer not to give loans, and therefore immediately came up with special rules: not to provide loans to those who already can afford anything. We can say that this is how he invented capitalism, and already in 1937 he was able to create an organization that is vaguely reminiscent of modern banks.
The seventh circle of hell
Giovanni Medici was an incredibly practical person, so he managed to earn quite a lot of money. However, he himself and all members of his family were devout Christians, obeying the laws of the church, and therefore were constantly torn between divine commandments and earthly needs.
The afterlife seemed to the Medici as real as the one in which they traded. According to the Bible, usury was considered a mortal sin. So, as his wealth accumulated in the credit part of his ledger, Giovanni and his whole family were sincerely afraid of what was expected on the debit side: the threat of an eternal damnation.
Dante Alighieri, a fellow countryman of Medici, described in detail the circles of hell in his "Divine Comedy". So the Seventh Circle was filled with blasphemers, sodomites and creditors. But the prosperous Florentines were lucky - the Renaissance church offered a peculiar deal with a conscience, according to which any person who sponsors great works of art or architecture was automatically freed from the atonement for sins in hell.
"Paradise Gate"
To atone for the sins, the Medici decided to donate something special to the building of the Baptist church - both rich and poor were baptized in it. Therefore, they could please not only heavenly judgment, but also earthly judgment.
In 1424, Giovanni di Bicci solemnly presented the massive city church doors, made of gilded bronze, amazing the imagination. He personally chose the artist, who became Lorenzo Ghiberti, who embodied the bas-relief scenes from the New Testament on the canvas. It took a talented jeweler 20 years to complete this undeniable work of art, called "The Gates of Paradise."
Five years after the installation of the grand doors, Giovanni Medici died at the 89th year of life, having managed to give his descendants both the path to wealth and the path to "purification", opening their eyes to the enormous potential of art.
The first ever sponsorship of a monastery
Cosimo the Elder, the first son of Giovanni, managed to make his family the most influential in Europe, spreading branches of the Medici bank throughout Europe.
Cosimo was a political genius and subtly felt the power of equality with the common people. Therefore, despite his infinite wealth, he always dressed very simply and did not even ride a horse, but a donkey. At the same time, he was worried that the spot of usury was not forever washed away with the name of their family, and was sure that the “Paradise Gate” alone could not open the real gateway to paradise.
Cosimo often discussed this with the Pope, and he promised the Medici atonement for all sins if he donated money for the construction of the monastery of San Marco. At that time, rich people constantly gave temples money for chapels or frescoes, but Cosimo knew that this was not enough, so he completely paid for the construction of a whole monastery, which was the first such case in history.
The Medici personally monitored the entire construction process and gave the order to carve a huge inscription above the entrance, saying: "Pope Eugene IV promises that Cosimo Medici will be forgiven of all his sins in exchange for the construction of this monastery." And he also asked to make for himself the likeness of a monastic cell, inside which he fasted, made repentance and begged for the salvation of his soul.
Taking care of himself, the banker decided to do something to atone for the sins of the whole family, ordering from Benozzo Gozzoli a huge picture for his cell, depicting the Magi, bringing gifts to Jesus. After all, what was this whole church, if not a huge gift from the Medici to Christ?
Florentine Magi
As a result, the Medici really liked to associate themselves with the biblical magi. So much so that they even introduced the tradition of recreating a grand procession: on January 6, hundreds of people took to the streets of Florence and carried monkeys, parrots, cheetahs, tigers and other animals.
And on the private chapel of the Medici Palace a new fresco appeared - with the same plot and again belonging to Gozzoli's hand. But this time it was completed without too much asceticism, representing a multi-colored and gilded celebration of pure capitalism.
Cosimo and his eldest son died of gout in the 1460s, after which the power of the Medici family passed into the hands of his grandson Lorenzo.
Gorgeous Medici
Lorenzo the Magnificent received the best classical education that could only be bought for money. Unlike his grandfather and great-grandfather, he was not at all interested in banking, believing that his personal pleasures were most important in life. He was not at all embarrassed to look like the most powerful resident of Florence, whom he, in fact, was, and considered art to be his main hobby.
His great dream was to revive the beauty and myths of the ancient classical past, so he took practical steps to realize it. Experiencing due to the fact that the Florentine Renaissance was losing power in the world of painting, he decided to found a school of modern art, choosing the best works from the family collection and hiring talented teachers.
Lorenzo founded the academy in his own garden.His devotion to pagan art, instead of religious, formed the creative direction of instruction. One of his students was Michelangelo Buonarotti. Who knows, maybe we would never know about this talented creator, if not for the patronage of the Medici the Magnificent.
From that moment on, family members no longer thought about absolution - they no longer needed God, now they worshiped the gods of art.
Crime and Punishment
The Medici have advanced far in less than 100 years. However, each rise has its own fall. Lorenzo did not believe in hell and wanted to revive ancient Rome in Christian Florence.
But immediately after his death in 1492, the ghosts of the underworld returned and appeared before the Medici family in the person of the fanatical monk Girolamo Savonarola. He declared war on pagan art, which was under the auspices of the descendants of Lorenzo, and persuaded the people of Florence to burn all works of art for the glory of God at the half-mad religious festival of “vanity lights”.
Savonarola preached that the end of the world was near, and in feelings of apocalyptic terror, the inhabitants of Florence turned against the Medici.
Two years after the death of Lorenzo, his eldest son Pierrot realized that his family was in mortal danger, so he persuaded them to flee the city. Luxurious palaces were looted, and all works of art were stolen or destroyed.
From bankers to dictators
For almost 20 years, the Medici were in exile, but did not abandon the thought of regaining their former power through the church. Pierrot's younger brother, Giovanni, became the first Pope in the family, named Leo X. Thanks to his influence, the family was able to revive the powerful position of influence in Florence in 1512.
The new generation of the Medici, who grew up in exile, thought neither of the soul, nor of art. They dreamed of power.
And in 1530, Florence fell into the hands of the cruel dictator Alessandro Medici. An uneducated thug ordered the construction of a huge frightening fortress Fotretsza da Basso, designed to conquer, not protect, along the way filling every free meter of the city with the arms of his family.
And it was he who broke the old Florentine tradition of not using portraits on money by ordering the artist Benvenuto Cellini coin minting of his face. It was a literal declaration that the Medici are now equal to kings.
In 1532, Alessandro proclaimed himself the Duke of Florence, which meant the death of the republic. The family seized the city hall of the Palazzo della Signoria and turned it into a ducal palace. It seems that the dream of Cosimo came true - the Medici ceased to be ignoble money-lenders and turned into rulers.
Revival for the Medici
In the 1570s, Francesco the First became the ruler of Florence, who was not a warrior, but he was a subtle esthete, a lover of art, nature and the owner of a collection of exotic things.
His miniature gallery is reminiscent of a wardrobe (pictured above), with oval paintings that hid art objects symbolizing the same element that was depicted on the canvas in front of them.
Conclusion
The power and passions of this amazing family regularly became catalysts for new forms of artistic expression. It was they who made capitalism respectable, declaring publicly that greed is good, and best of all, greed for art.
Giovanni Medici wanted to get away from the spiritless roots of his wealth, but the result was the emergence of a currency more expensive than gold. She became art.