Lorenzo il Magnifico de' Medici was the head of the ruling
political party at the apogee of the Golden Age of Quattrocento
Florence. Born in 1449, his life was shaped by privilege and
responsibility, and his deeds as a statesman were legendary even
while he lived. At his death he was master of the largest and most
famous private palace in Florence, a building crammed full of the
household goods of four generations of Medici as well as the most
extraordinary collections of art, antiquities, books, jewelry,
coins and cameos, and rare vases in private hands. His heirs
undertook an inventory of the estate, a usual procedure following
the demise of an important head of the family. An anonymous clerk,
pen and paper in hand, walked through the palace from room to room
counting and recording the barrels of wine and the water urns,
opening cabinets and chests, unfolding and examining clothes,
fabrics, and tapestries, describing the paintings he saw on the
walls, unlocking jewel boxes, and weighing and evaluating coins,
medals, necklaces, brooches, rings, and cameos. The original
document he produced has been lost, but a copy was made by another
clerk in 1512. Richard Stapleford's critical translation of this
document offers the reader a window onto the world of the Medici
family, their palace, and the material culture that surrounded
them.
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