Lucrezia Tornabuoni’s life story is not only a bridge that straddled the medieval world and the reawakening of the Classical past, but also an example of how an intelligent woman adapted to living during a transitional stage of history by preserving what was good in the old traditions and embracing new cultural shifts.
Throughout the 15th century, the Medici family wielded immense economic and political power in Florence, then the cultural centre of Europe. So extensive was their political clout that it is impossible to separate the history of the Republic of Florence from the narrative of the rise and fall of this illustrious family.
References to the more prominent male members, such as Cosimo de Medici, who consolidated the banking business, which was the source of their wealth, or his grandson Lorenzo il Magnifico, who not only built on it but through his patronage of the arts also contributed in no small way to the flowering of the Florentine Renaissance, have been the subject of innumerable studies.
The Medici women are given less importance than their male counterparts. This is not surprising since their roles were clearly circumscribed both by society in general as well as by the Church, as a result of which their education was often neglected. Thus, for example, in spite of the wealth and power of her husband, Contessina de Bardi remained a burgher’s wife all her life, perfectly content with her limited status as wife of Cosimo and mother of his children.
The same, however, cannot be said for Cosimo’s daughter-in-law, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, who, although she held no official roles, managed nevertheless to leave her stamp on the Medici story. When Lucrezia was born in 1425 or 1427, the medieval world was coming to an end and a new era was dawning. By 1482, the year she died, the reawakening of the Classical past, which had brought with it a new state of mind, had firmly established itself. Lucrezia’s life story is not only a bridge that straddled these two worlds, but also an example of how an intelligent woman adapted to living during a transitional stage of history by preserving what was good in the old traditions and, at the same time, embracing the new cultural shifts, in so doing, contributing to the breaking down of barriers.
Lucrezia was one of 10 children of Francesoo Tornabuoni, a prosperous trader, who could trace his lineage back 500 years, and Nanna Guiccardini, a noble woman. Having received the same education as her brothers, Lucrezia was highly cultivated and well-read in both Latin and Greek texts. Initially, Cosimo de Medici had betrothed his eldest son Piero to another Florentine noble woman, but subsequently changed his mind in favour of Lucrezia, who, as the daughter of Francesco, one of his supporters and a good republican, was, for political reasons, a far better arrangement.
This, together with the fact that the Tornabuoni were an ancient Florentine family, made it a good match for the Medici, who had wealth, but not nobility. Years later, when Lucrezia and Piero had their own children, they went to great pains to improve not only their social status but also to forge important political alliances, by ensuring that their children were connected by marriage to all the illustrious families of the different city states.
Piero and Lucrezia were married on June 3, 1444. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters. Before his marriage, Piero had had an illegitimate daughter, Maria, whom Lucrezia brought up as her own. Lorenzo, the best known of them all, was born in 1450.
Lucrezia’s life after she became part of the Medici family is well documented through the letters she wrote to members of the family – mainly her husband, her children and later her grandchildren – when she was away from home either on diplomatic missions, or taking the cures at the various spas and baths of the area. There were also her letters in reply to all those who either sought her help or her advice.
Because she was literate and well educated, unlike her mother-in-law, she wrote the letters herself and had no need to dictate them to a scribe. Her letters are, therefore, more spontaneous.
Misfortune and sorrow do not spare anyone, and in 1478, Lucrezia was overcome by grief when the lifeless body of her son Giovanni, murdered in the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici, was brought to her
About 500 of these have survived and they are a wealth of information about the writer and her times. In them, Lucrezia discusses domestic problems, her illnesses and ‘fevers’ – health-wise she was quite delicate – her clothes, the education of her boys and the choice of the best tutors for them. Perusal of these letters also affords an interesting insight into the social life of the Medici household, as when she writes about the preparations for the festivities held in honour of Galeazzo Sforza, son of the Duke of Milan, who visited Florence in 1459. Such details are of great importance because they provide glimpses into 15th-century Florentine society and help scholars to piece together an all-round picture of the era.
In 1464, after the death of his father, Piero assumed control of the business, which meant that he was often away on long trips and Lucrezia had to rely on correspondence to keep him informed about family and business matters. One very important aspect of their marriage relationship emerges clearly from these letters; Piero was confident of his wife’s ability to manage his estates and watch over his business. He had no problem leaving his affairs in her hands. She was capable not only of keeping accounts, but also her tact and delicacy in dealing with subordinates was a great asset. Whenever Piero went away, he knew he was leaving an excellent manager in charge.
Piero was a sickly man, who suffered from gout and was often compelled to take to his bed for weeks. Having witnessed her diplomatic skills, combined with her charming disposition, he did not hesitate to entrust her with ambassadorial missions. One such mission was to the Pope to discuss the Venetian aggression against Florence.
For a woman to be given such an official role was unheard of in those days; no woman had ever acted as an ambassador and certainly never to an all-male court like the papal one. Florentines, who disapproved of giving such power to a woman, did not spare Piero any criticism for allowing his wife to eclipse him and underscore his ‘weakness’.
Lucrezia was astute and not afraid of a challenge. She was clever enough to realise that a man in Piero’s position stood to gain from her backing. She understood politics and she kept up to date with current events by having regular correspondents, who acted in the same way as journalists, collecting and sending her news of what was happening in other cities states.
But, as one can see from her letters, politics was not the sole or even perhaps the most important aspect of Lucrezia’s interests. Her family was her top priority. She made sure that her children got the best education possible by employing the most renowned thinkers and writers of the moment with whom she was on first-name terms, such as Poliziano and Pulci.
She took an active part in negotiating the marriages for her children. In the case of her eldest son Lorenzo, she travelled to Rome to inspect for herself the intended bride, Clarice, who belonged to the powerful Orsini family. She kept Piero informed by letter about the proceedings, assuring him that “if matters should come to nothing you are not involved”. Having made the final arrangements, she could not, however, resist adding that Clarice had passed the test “though she is not as sweet as our girls”.
For reasons of health, she continued to spend time at the baths, but away from the centre of politics, she may have found life rather boring, and being the woman she was, she turned the necessity into a business.
Misfortune and sorrow do not spare anyone, and in 1478, Lucrezia was overcome by grief when the lifeless body of her son Giovanni, murdered in the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici, was brought to her.
When Piero became so ill that he had to leave business matters in Lorenzo’s hands, fully aware of the great influence she had on her children, he instructed her to keep a close watch over the young man lest he became too arrogant, cautioning her in a letter: “I will not have the gosling teach the gander to drink.”
After Piero died in 1469, she continued to advise Lorenzo, who later acknowledged her support, describing her as: “My only refuge from my trouble and my relief in many labours.”
Lucrezia was a compassionate woman. Many of the letters received are supplications, and what is of greater interest is that the supplicants came from all walks of life. Whether it was a queen in trouble or poor young girls who needed a dowry to get married; whether they were Church institutions or political persons; whether Florentine or foreign; anyone enlisting her aid always found ready help.
Because she was approachable, she was often asked to mediate in disputes and supplicants never doubted that in her they would find a person willing to listen. “She knew how to manage the most important affairs with wise counsel and how to succour the citizens in time of calamity,” one of her eulogists told Lorenzo.
“Besides losing my mother, the thought of which alone breaks my heart, I have also lost a helper who relieved me of many burdens.”
Lorenzo il Magnifico
That she exercised an impressive influence on her husband is doubtless. There are many instances from which one can deduce that her wishes were a command. In 1465, for example, when the Strozzi family was threatened with exile, she managed to revoke their sentence. On another occasion, she intervened to save the life of a Dutchman condemned to death for bigamy and so saved his life.
Lucrezia also wielded great influence in securing appointments. Today, preferment of dependents, whether ecclesiastical or secular, would be condemned as corruption, but in the days when patronage was an accepted and even laudable exercise of power, such help, if the recipient merited it, was not only acceptable but also a demonstration of kindness and an act of charity towards people of a lower social standing. From her letters, it is clear that Lucrezia continued to take an interest in her protégés and follow their career long after she had intervened on their behalf.
Patronage of the arts, on which all artists of the time depended, was the prerogative of the powerful. That Lucrezia was one of the most influential patrons of the arts is yet more proof of how highly cultivated she was. She herself wrote poetry and plays based on biblical stories and composed religious songs.
For reasons of health, she continued to spend time at the baths, but away from the centre of politics, she may have found life rather boring, and being the woman she was, she turned the necessity into a business. She bought the baths at Bagno a Morba near Volterra and made up-to-date improvements, re-building them, the cisterns and bath-houses, adding a new inn for visitors as well as a home for the family. In so doing, she changed the village into a fashionable health centre. She also bought houses in and around Pisa and Florence.
When she died, Lorenzo wrote: “Besides losing my mother, the thought of which alone breaks my heart, I have also lost a helper who relieved me of many burdens.”
A portrait of Lucrezia by the artist Domenico Ghirlandaio, commissioned by her brother Giovanni, is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and in the fresco of Saint John the Baptist in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, she appears as the donor.
Lucrezia is the grandmother of two popes: Leo X and Clement VII and great-great-grandmother of Catherine de Medici, Queen of France.