The Cultural Politics of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici

When he suddenly came to power in Italy in 1537, the young Duke Cosimo I de' Medici amazed friends and foes alike with his ability to extricate himself from mortal danger, affirm his authority and revive a dying state. He doubled the size of his duchy and established a dynasty that ruled unchallenged for 200 years. This volume is the first book-length study in any language to approach the figure of Duke Cosimo I from the point of view of his cultural agenda. The contributors examine the political, economic, cultural and linguistic strategies that made Cosimo a successful leader, and in the process illuminate the cultural world of mid-sixteenth-century Tuscany.

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Contents: Introduction, Konrad Eisenbichler; Francesco Vettori, Francesco Guicciardini and Cosimo I: The Prince after Machiavelli, Marcello Simonetta; A republic in jeopardy: Cosimo I de' Medici and the Republic of Lucca, Mary Hewlett; Cosimo I and the Anglo-French negotiations of 1550, Laura E. Hunt; Cellini's trial for sodomy: power and patronage at the court of Cosimo I, Margaret A. Gallucci; Lessons from the past: The Palazzo Medici as political 'mentor' in 16th-century Florence, Roger J. Crum; Claiming a place in history: Giorgio Vasari's Ragionamenti and the primacy of the Medici, Paola Tinagli; Cosimo's cavallo: A study in imperial imagery, Mary Weitzel Gibbons; Lorenzo Torrentino and the cultural programme of Cosimo I de' Medici, Antonio Ricci; The Reception of Dante in the Time of Cosimo I, Mary Alexandra Watt; Fasseli gratia per poetessa: Duke Cosimo I de' Medici's role in the Florentine literary circle of Tullia d' Aragona, Deana Basile; Cosimo and Eleanora in Sheperdland: A lost eclogue by Laura Battiferra degli Ammannati, Victoria Kirkham; The Accademia del Disegno and Fellowships of Discourse at the court of Cosimo I de' Medici, Karen-edis Barzman; Ritual and parody in mid-cinquecento Florence: Cosimo de' Medici and the Accademia del Piano, Domenico Zanrè; An experimental culture: the art of the economy and the economy of art of Cosimo I and Francesco I; Philip Gavitt; The High Baroque Tapestries of the Life of Cosimo I: the man and his myth in the service of Ferdinando II, James Harper; Index.