Godfathers of the Renaissance

Medici
Michaelangelo
Botticelli
Leonardo
Galileo

At the start of the 15th century men had come to raid the Church. They were no there for jewels or the bodies of the dead, but for knowledge. They wanted secrets from the ancient worlds that had been hidden.

The knowledge was taken back to Florence, Cosmo's birthplace. Florence was the major trade center where noble families fought for dominance and prestige.

The Medici bank was operated by Cosmo's father and stationed in a bathroom of another store. He chose his clients not only for business but also for loyalty. The clients became friends and had to be trusted.

Pope John the Twenty Third, on his way up to becoming a Pope, was the client of Cosmo's father. He had made a bet with a pirate that he could become Pope and eventually won.

The cathedral was the epicenter of religious life. In Florence, the cathedral was going to be the largest dome in the world, but the project failed. This was reflected very badly in the eyes of the religious and called a mutilation of religion.

Filippo Brunelleschi- A medieval genius but back in his days he was "unorthodox". The Medici family took him in and his radical ideas flourished in their presence. He brought back the ancient workmanships and astounded all who saw his works. His ideas would spark a revolution of massive proportions throughout the architecture of Europe. He eventually took on the solution to the seemingly impossible of the dome. He wrote all of his plans in a code and he was interrogated by the authorities until he showed them. He stood an egg up by breaking it and the authorities gave in. He tried his hand at the actual problem, now. Brunelleschi looked at the Pantheon, the largest free standing dome, for inspiration. Even though Brunelleschi had designed the building properly, there were other problems that were not thought of in that day. Brunelleschi had to surpass the era and develop complex rigs that got the job done. Brunelleschi invented linear perspective, a type of art which allowed objects in art to be viewed on the page as three-dimensional, real life things. 

Giovanni Medici died in 1565 and Cosmo had to take over the papacy. Rival families showed now that Giovanni was gone and Florence was now in the position of falling back out of a Renaissance. The enemies wanted to see Brunelleschi's design fail, which would mean a hard hit on Cosmo and the Medici's. September 7th 1433, Cosmo was summoned to the Parliament. Other noble families were forming together to being the Medicis to their end. Families loyal to the Medicis were tortured until they released incriminating facts about the Medicis. A vote was taken in the city and Cosmo was found guilty of treason and now faced execution. From his cell, though, he negotiated a bribe with friends hidden as enemies and walked out alive. He was banished from Florence and the Alizzi were in power. Work on the dome had to be abandoned. Cosmo's friends and agents of the Pope invaded Florence and Cosmo's exile ended. Brunelleschi, with the help of the money which was now flowing into Rome, restarted his work. Cosmo held committees in his house and chose who was to be the king, "in everything but name." The Medici was now the most profitable business in all of Europe. Cosmo, not being satisfied with money, became a patron to the arts. Medici's artists created art that was seen nowhere else in Europe.      


"Rebirth Renaissance"



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipo_Brunelleschi









http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medici