The Medici

Having founded the bank that became the most powerful in Europe in the 15th century, the Medici gained political power in Florence, ruling the city during its cultural heyday and becoming its hereditary dukes. Among their number were no fewer than three popes, and a powerful and influential queen of France. Their patronage of the arts facilitated an explosion of Florentine art and architecture. Michelangelo, Donatello, Fra Angelico and Leonardo da Vinci are among the artists with which they were