The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici (49 page)

‘Very well, then let us do what there is to be done; and do it quickly.’ So they brought her the Communion… She was sensible to the last, but she did not speak for about an hour and a half before she died… She has lain in state in the great hall of the palace since Thursday morning, and is to be buried tonight… [So] the poor remains of the Medici is soon to join her ancestors.

The family mausoleum at San Lorenzo is not, however, her true memorial. In her will she bequeathed to die new Grand Duke and his successors all the property of the Medici, their palaces and villas, their pictures and statues, their jewels and furniture, their books and manuscripts – all the vast store of works of art assembled by her
ancestors, generation after generation. She made one condition: nothing should ever be removed from Florence where the treasures of the Medici should always be available for the pleasure and benefit of the people of the whole world.
¹

1. Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici,
Pater Patriae
, 1389–1464, by Pontormo

2. Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici, 1360–1429, by Bronzino.

3. Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici, ‘il Gottoso’, 1416–1469, by Mino da Fiesole.

4. Giovanni di Cosimo de’ Medici, 1424–1463, by Mino da Fiesole.

5. Giuliano di Piero de’ Medici, 1453–1478, by Botticelli.

6 and 7. Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, ‘il Magnifico’, 1449–1492.
Left
a painted terracotta by Verrocchio.
Right
anonymous painting.

8. A detail of
The Procession of the Magi
, the mural by Gozzoli in the chapel in the Medici Palace. Suggestions about the identity of the various figures are given on pages 110–11; but the man on the horse on the far right has also been identified as Piero de’ Medici, Gozzoli’s patron. Gozzoli left no room for doubt as to his own identity by painting his name on his hat.

9. Botticelli’s
Adoration of the Magi
. As suggested on
page 109
the young man withthe sword on the left is probably intended to represent Lorenzo the Magnificent. Thepossible identity of the other figures is given on
page 320
. The man on the extreme rightis usually taken to be Botticelli himself.

10. The courtyard of the Medici Palace was designed by MichelozzoMichelozzi. It is described on
page 90
.

11. Botticelli’s
Young Woman
, though formerly supposed to represent either Clarice Orsini or Simonetta Vespucci, is more likely to be a portrait of Fioretta Gorini, mistress of Giuliano de’ Medici and mother of Giulio who later became Pope Clement VII.

12. Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici, 1471–1503, by Bronzino.