The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence

Celebrated during his lifetime for his extraordinary talent as a sculptor, architect, painter, draftsman, and poet, Michelangelo inspired subsequent Florentine artists and attracted the city’s most powerful patrons—notably the Medici grand dukes. Their extensive and enlightened patronage allowed art in all media to flourish. In addition to commissioning portraits and decorative objects for private and public display, the Medici family ordered the reconstruction or renovation of numerous civic buildings and private residences and established several major institutions for artistic production and instruction, including Europe’s first artists’ academy. See the most famous works of art in full color.