The relationship between Michelangelo Buonarroti and the Medici family in an exhibition in Florence

From Nov. 20, 2019 to March 9, 2020, the Casa Buonarroti Foundation in Florence is organizing the exhibition Michelangelo and the Medici through the papers of the Buonarroti Archive, a project that investigates the relationship between the great artist and the Medici with a reading of the family’s rich archives and, in particular, the Michelangelo documents, testimonies of exceptional importance. The papers, little known to the public and for the most part exhibited for the first time, make it possible to follow every moment of Michelangelo’s life.

The great artist’s relationship with the Medici began as early as the end of the 15th century, with the protection accorded him in the nineties by Lorenzo the Magnificent, followed by his cousin Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, at the time of the republic, and then continued with the commission of the facade for the church of San Lorenzo (1516-1520) by Giovanni, second son of the Magnificent, and pope under the name of Leo X. This commission would not be completed because of the arrival of new commissions from the Medici family, such as the construction of the New Sacristy and its sculptural decoration, and the construction of the Laurentian Library (1520 - 1534), followed personally and through intermediaries, by Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, a cousin of the pope and, in turn, since 1523, pontiff with the name Clement VII.

In 1534 Buonarroti would leave Florence forever to move to Rome in the service of the popes. Repeated attempts by Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici to have him return would have been to no avail. Several letters account for this, of those on display, some of them, exceptionally, written by the ruler. Notable among them is one by Vasari, dated 1563, in which he gives news of the founding of theAccademia delle Arti del Disegno (Academy of the Arts of Drawing ) and the role of spiritual and artistic leader attributed to the elderly artist.

A separate incident is the commission given to Michelangelo in the 1560s by Catherine de’ Medici of a bronze equestrian monument to her consort Henry II, King of France, who died as a result of a tournament accident. The artist, now elderly, delegated the unsuccessful commission to his devoted friend and collaborator Daniele da Volterra, who was ill and died two years after him.

For all information you can visit the official website of Casa Buonarroti.

Pictured: The Empoli, Michelangelo presents Leo X with models for the enterprises of San Lorenzo

The relationship between Michelangelo Buonarroti and the Medici family in an exhibition in Florence

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