Galeazzo Sforza addressed a letter to Lorenzo de'Medici, his cofather: "Spectabilis Compater noster carissime." Benvenuto Cellini, telling of a journey with his cofather, referred to the man as "mio compar Tribolo."(64) The concept of this honorific title was significant enough that people extended its usage into social arenas untouched by baptismal kinship.
In 1478, for instance, when Lorenzo de'Medici went to war with the papacy in the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy, he wrote his cofathers, the King of France and the Duke of Milan, seeking aid.
His position was closer to that of
Lorenzo de'Medici in the Florentine republic than to Ercole d'Este in Ferrara or Galeazzo Maria Sforza in Milan.
(64) Rather than directly contacting the Girolami about having the ring sent to him, Louis XI instead turned to Lorenzo de'Medici. The two men had corresponded since 1473, and in his letters the French king addressed Lorenzo as "my cousin" and "my friend." The Florentine did his part to maintain their long-distance friendship by giving Louis XI, who had a passion for dogs, a large guard dog for his bedroom.
Lorenzo de'Medici was well suited for the task of ensuring that the Girolami ring was sent to France, as he fostered a special devotion to Sr.
When writing of Michelangelo's early relief of the Battle of the Centaurs now in the Casa Buonarroti, made at the time when the young artist was working in Lorenzo de'Medici's garden off the Piazza San Marco, Condivi made a characteristically well-meaning but slightly misdirected comment.
Condivi goes on to say that scarcely had Michelangelo completed the Battle of the Centaurs than Lorenzo de'Medici died.
18 The horn closely resembles one with Medici and Visconti arms once in the Medici Coll., now the Bargello, Florence, mentioned in a 1492 inventory made after the death of Lorenzo de'Medici. Scalini, 15, 22, fig.
"The Weapons of Lorenzo de'Medici." In Art, Arms, and Armour: An International Anthology, ed.
At the beginning of the dialogue proper, the character Leon Baptista Alberti recommends to another character, Lorenzo de'Medici, this practice of uniting both modes of life, saying that it is the best method by which our souls can acquire virtues, return to their origin, and have true understanding of ourselves and others.(12)
Following the in utramque partem method, Landino has the character Lorenzo de'Medici oppose Alberti, arguing for the superiority of the life of negotium from a social and political perspective.(35) These arguments are of three types: that negotium corresponds best with our nature, that it helps us overcome vice more easily, and that it serves others.
