64 Ch. 2 • The Renaissance

Pope Leo X, here presented

by Raphael with two cardi­

nals, brought artists and

musicians to his court.

the patronage of a banker, a cardinal, the duke of Mantua, the Medici of

Florence, and a Venetian doge and nobleman, spared neither secular nor

ecclesiastical leaders from mocking jokes and rhymes. Aretino attacked

social climbers and the venality of offices in the city-states with particular

venom. He spared the one person he referred to as divine—himself.

Because the classical texts suggested that the active life included playing a

salutary role in one s community, humanist families of means believed that

they should demonstrate wisdom by making good use of their riches. Com­

missioning works of art seemed to confirm moral leadership, and therefore

the right to govern. Wealthy families also used art to reflect the image that

they wished to give of themselves, for example, commissioning portraits to

impress the family of a prospective spouse.

The Medici of Florence, the greatest of the secular patrons of the arts,

commissioned buildings, paid for the elaborate decoration of chapels and

altarpieces, and restored monasteries. Although wags suggested that he may

have been more interested in the expensive bindings of the books he pur­

chased than in their contents, Cosimo de’ Medici collected manuscripts and

even read some of them. The wealthy banker oversaw the construction of

fine palaces and churches. Michelangelo (1475—1564), who designed the

Medici tomb in the church of Saint Lorenzo in Florence, was but one sculp­

tor who enjoyed the favor of the Medici.

The long economic recession of the fifteenth century may have actually

contributed to the arts. Finding insufficient profits in commerce and man­

ufacturing for their money, patrician families spent considerable sums on

paintings and sculpture. This may, in turn, have accentuated the recession

by turning productive capital away from economic investments. At the

same time, so the argument goes, the recession offered families of means

more time to devote to culture.