European Languages and Societies Commons^™

The Palazzo Medici And Its Polyvalent Message: Cosimo De Medici Navigates The Shifting Meaning Of Pride, Lisa Morgan Thieryung

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the Medicean ability to present divergent messages to different audiences through the manipulation of art and architecture of the Palazzo Medici. I examine several works of art commissioned and authored by the Medici. First, Donatello’s bronze David, located in the Medici Courtyard, is interpreted through the traditional Christian perspective as seen by the vicini, making the Medici appear pious, reverent, and religiously devout. This work is also interpreted from the amici point of view using ancient and contemporary authors to trace the development of ideas amongst the circle of Classically educated friends of the Medici. …