MEDICI

the famous Florentine family who combined the career of merchants and bankers with the exercise of political power and liberal patronage of art. Cosmo de Medici (1389-1464) was, for thirty-four years, sole arbitrator of the republic and the adviser of the sovereign houses of Italy. He was wealthy, liberal, and a consummate statesman. His grandson, Lorenzo The Magnificent (1449-1492), governed the state at first with his brother, and then alone, in great munificence. His grandson, Lorenzo, was the father of Catharine de Medici, Queen of France. Then the family had some reverses, until Cosmo ‘the Great’ (1537-1574) became Duke of Florence and then Grand-Duke of Tuscany, which title the Medicis held until 1737.