Editing Lorenzo de' Medici (section)

==Youth==
Lorenzo's grandfather, [[Cosimo de' Medici]], was the first member of the [[House of Medici|Medici family]] to lead the Republic of Florence and run the [[Medici Bank]] simultaneously. As one of the wealthiest men in Europe, the elder Cosimo spent a very large portion of his fortune on government and philanthropy, for example as a patron of the arts and financier of public works.<ref name=HRW>Hugh Ross Williamson, ''Lorenzo the Magnificent'', Michael Joseph, (1974), {{ISBN|07181 12040}}.</ref> Lorenzo's father, [[Piero di Cosimo de' Medici]], was equally at the centre of Florentine civic life, chiefly as an art patron and collector, while Lorenzo's uncle, [[Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici]], took care of the family's business interests. Lorenzo's mother, [[Lucrezia Tornabuoni]], was a writer of [[sonnet]]s and a friend to poets and philosophers of the [[Platonic Academy (Florence)|Medici Academy]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Milligan |first=Gerry |url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0174.xml |title=Renaissance and Reformation |date=26 August 2011 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195399301 |series=[[Oxford Bibliographies]] |chapter=Lucrezia Tornabuoni |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780195399301-0174 |access-date=25 February 2015}}</ref> She became her son's advisor after the deaths of his father and uncle.<ref name=HRW/>

Lorenzo, considered the most promising of the five children of Piero and Lucrezia, was tutored by a diplomat and bishop, [[Gentile de' Becchi]], and the humanist philosopher [[Marsilio Ficino]],<ref>Hugh Ross Williamson, p. 67</ref> and he was trained in Greek by pivotal Renaissance scholar [[John Argyropoulos]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Renaissance|last=Durant|first=Will|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1953|series=[[The Story of Civilization]]|volume=5|location=New York|pages=110}}</ref> With his brother [[Giuliano de' Medici|Giuliano]], he participated in [[jousting]], [[falconry|hawking]], hunting, and horse breeding for the [[Palio di Siena|Palio]], a horse race in [[Siena]]. In 1469, aged 20, he won first prize in a jousting tournament sponsored by the Medici. The joust was the subject of a poem written by Luigi Pulci.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Davie|first=Mark|title=Luigi Pulci's ''Stanze per la Giostra'': Verse and Prose Accounts of a Florentine Joust of 1469|url=http://openurl.ingenta.com/content/xref?genre=article&issn=0075-1634&volume=44&issue=1&spage=41|journal=Italian Studies|year=1989|volume=44|issue=1|pages=41–58|doi=10.1179/007516389790509128}}</ref> [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] also wrote of the occasion, perhaps sarcastically, that he won "not by way of favour, but by his own valour and skill in arms".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/florentinehistor02machuoft|title=The Florentine History|last=Machiavelli|first=Niccolò|date=1906|publisher=London: Archibald Constable and Co. Limited|volume=2|page=169}}</ref> He carried a banner painted by [[Andrea del Verrocchio|Verrocchio]], and his horse was named Morello di Vento.<!-- does the horse's name signify anything? --><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Stanze of Angelo Poliziano|author=Poliziano, Angelo|date=1993|publisher=[[Penn State University Press|Pennsylvania State University Press]]|isbn=0271009373|location=University Park, Pa.|pages=x|oclc=26718982}}</ref><ref>Christopher Hibbert, chapter 9</ref>

Piero sent Lorenzo on many important diplomatic missions when he was still a youth, including trips to Rome to meet the pope and other important religious and political figures.<ref>Niccolò Machiavelli, ''History of Florence'', Book VIII, Chap. 7.</ref>

Lorenzo was described as rather plain of appearance and of average height, having a broad frame and short legs, dark hair and eyes, a squashed nose, short-sighted eyes and a harsh voice. Giuliano, on the other hand, was regarded as handsome and a "golden boy", and was used as a model by [[Botticelli]] in his painting of ''[[Mars and Venus (Botticelli)|Mars and Venus]]''.<ref>Hugh Ross Williamson, p. 70</ref> Even Lorenzo's close friend Niccolo Valori described him as homely, saying, "nature had been a stepmother to him in regards to his personal appearance, although she had acted as a loving mother in all things concocted with the mind. His complexion was dark, and although his face was not handsome it was so full of dignity as to compel respect."<ref>Janet Ross. "Florentine Palaces & Their Stories". 14 August 2016. Page 250.</ref>
{{multiple image
 | align     = left
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 | header_align = center
 | header    = Paintings by Botticelli that use the Medici family as models
 | image1    = Sandro Botticelli - Madonna del Magnificat - Google Art Project.jpg
 | width1    = 220
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 | caption1  = ''[[Madonna of the Magnificat]]'' shows [[Lucrezia Tornabuoni]] as the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Madonna]] surrounded by her children, with Lorenzo holding a pot of ink.
 | image2    = Botticelli, adorazione dei magi uffizi.jpg
 | width2    = 275
 | alt2      =
 | caption2  = ''[[Adoration of the Magi of 1475 (Botticelli)|The Adoration of the Magi]]'' includes several generations of the Medici family and their retainers. Sixteen-year-old Lorenzo is to the left, with his horse, prior to his departure on a diplomatic mission to [[Milan]].
 }}
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