Lorenzo de' Medici (1463–1503)

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici (August 4, 1463 – May 20, 1503), nicknamed the Popolano, was an Italian banker and politician, the brother of Giovanni de' Medici il Popolano.

He was born in Florence, the son of Pierfrancesco de' Medici (the Elder) and Laudomia Acciaioli. After his father's death, he went under the tutelage of his cousin Lorenzo (il Magnifico), and studied under figures such as Marsilio Ficino and Angelo Poliziano. In 1483 he was sent as ambassador to France.

His grandson Lorenzino de' Medici was the assassin of Alessandro de' Medici, the last ruler of Florence from the "senior" branch of the Medici, thereby passing power to Lorenzo's great-grandson Cosimo I de' Medici. He was the proprietor of the Villa del Trebbio and Villa di Castello.

Relations with Lorenzo il Magnifico deteriorated when he denied Lorenzo and Giovanni their inheritance. When il Magnifico died (1492), Lorenzo and Giovanni sided against the latter's son, Piero (il Fatuo). Two years later they were exiled, but returned when King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and Piero was ousted from Florence by a Republican government. The two brothers sided with the Republican party, and received the nickname Popolano ("Popular"). Lorenzo became one of the most outstanding figures of the new administration, and was regarded by many as the cultural heir of il Magnifico. He protected Botticelli, Michelangelo, Filippino Lippi, Bartolomeo Scala, and in 1494 he founded a workshop of ceramics at Cafaggiolo.

He was overshadowed by Savonarola, but after the latter's death it was rumoured he would receive the effective personal rule of the Republic; however, he refused. In 1501, Lorenzo was suspected of a plot with Cesare Borgia to favour the latter in the conquest of the city, but the accusations were never confirmed. He died in Florence in 1503.

Patron of arts

Lorenzo il Popolano may have commissioned from Botticelli the Allegory of Spring and The Birth of Venus, the latter one of the most famous paintings of the Renaissance.

He was also supposedly the metaphorical subject of Botticelli's Pallas Athene Taming a Centaur, which was a gift to him from his distant cousin Lorenzo de' Medici (il Magnifico), on the occasion of his marriage to Semiramide d'Appiani. Il Magnifico apparently knew Lorenzo to be of brutal and debauched character, and it is supposed that in this painting he was trying to indicate that she should bring Lorenzo under control.