SEE-D "Politician" Ω Omega

Lorenzo de' Medici ("the Magnificent")

Statesman / Patron · Florentine · 15th c.

De facto ruler of Florence and cultural patron (1449–1492). Called "the Magnificent," he patronised Botticelli, Michelangelo, and others and produced the cultural golden age of the Renaissance. At the same time he maintained the balance of Italian political power as "the needle of the Italian balance." A supreme model of statesman-as-patron, his sudden death at 43 plunged Florence into crisis.