' He was also an artist, writing poetry in his native Tuscan. In his poetry he celebrates life while, particularly in his later works, acknowledging with melancholy the fragility and instability of the human condition. Love, feasts and light dominate his verse. Cosimo had started the collection of books that became the Medici Library (also called the Laurentian Library), and Lorenzo expanded it. Lorenzo's agents retrieved from the East large numbers of classical works, and he employed a large workshop to copy his books and disseminate their content across Europe. He supported the development of humanism through his circle of scholarly friends including the philosophers Marsilio Ficino, Poliziano and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. They studied Greek philosophers and attempted to merge the ideas of Plato with Christianity. Apart from a personal interest, Lorenzo also used the Florentine scene of fine arts for his diplomatic efforts. An example includes the commission of Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Cosimo Rosselli to Rome to paint murals in the Sistine Chapel, a move that has been interpreted as sealing the alliance between Lorenzo and Pope Sixtus IV. In 1471, Lorenzo calculated that since 1434 his family had spent thousands of florins on charity, buildings and taxes : ' I do not regret this for though many would consider it better to have a part of that sum in their purse, I consider it to have been a great honour to our state, and I think the money was well-expended and I am well-pleased' . Source : @wikipedia . • • • Statue of Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence 1 January 1449 – Careggi 8 April 1492) 'the Magnificent' by contemporary Florentines , magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists and poets . Uffizi Gallery , Firenze . • • #Miles7one #nx7 #lorenzoilmagnifico #bellafirenze #visitflorence #loveflorence #firenze #florence #Uffizi #italy #ar7e #italia #ilikeitaly #art #arte #artist #artoftheday #arts #artwork #artistic #artgallery #artofvisuals #artists #artlife #travel #travelling #sculpture (at Uffizi Gallery)
