Author Bio: Vespasiano was an Italian humanist and librarian who personally helped d'Medici build his library of over 200 volumes, mainly about theology and liturgical chant. He left behind a collection of 300 biographies that are a significant source of investigation and provide reliable facts about 15th century humanism. His general tone is that a moralist who shows the dangers of the Renaissance.
Date/Context: Renaissance biographer Vespasiano wrote this portrait of Cosimo d'Medici during Florence's bountiful era during the Renaissance. Florence was the city most representative of activity and inspiration as the home of Bruni, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Dante. Cosimo and the Medici family led the city to further creative success through their support of Florence's great artists. Vespasiano personally worked with Cosimo therefore he can be considered a reliable source, although it may be a tad biased due to their close relationship. The portrait fits with Florence's era of prosperity since the Medici family served as the backbone for the city's artistic achievements.
Summary: From the beginning Vespasiano praises Cosimo's talents and skills to engage in meaningful relationships and keep his followers close and loyal to him. He knew the dangers of power and therefore safeguarded himself in order to not appear to have too much power. He "acted privately with the greatest discretion" and whenever he set out to attain something he "let it appear that the matter had been set in motion by some one other than himself and thus he escaped envy and unpopularity." Although seemingly manipulative, Vespasiano portrays Cosimo as good and just trying to keep the peace. He views Cosimo as admirable, honest, kind, patient, and true to his word. In the eyes of Vespasiano, Cosimo was the greatest philanthropist and socialite who did not ignore or discriminate and fully accepted all artists. If an artist did not have work, like Donatello at some points, Cosimo would personally commission them and pay them generously: anything to keep Florence's creative world alive. In this case, author biased is evident. Although as modern-day readers we can not truly judge the validity of this portrait, Vespasiano speaks completely favorably of Cosimo and his work, therefore there exists slight doubt over this writing. Nevertheless, the portrait does exemplify Cosimo's and the Medici family's influence during the Renaissance and their undeniable support of the arts.
Key Quotation: "His manner was admirable; he never spoke ill of anyone, and it angered him greatly to hear slander spoken by others. He was kind and patient to all who sought speech with him: he was more a man of deeds than of words: he always performed what he promised..." (386).
Overall, I think you did a really good job! I like that you included good background info about Vespasiano; as someone who wrote so extensively about Renaissance humanism he definitely sounds like an interesting source. You also did a good job in pointing out his bias as a friend of the Medici family, which would certainly influence his work and cast some discreditably on this text. The summary also did a good job of explaining Vespasiano's favorable view of Cosimo and all the aspects of his life and rule.
ReplyDeleteThe only negative that I could see would be the statement that "his general tone is that of a moralist who shows the dangers of the Renaissance." What I got from the text was that he was a good friend who admired Cosimo's character and actions, and approved of the work that was done during the Renaissance, rather than a moralist showing its weaknesses. I can understand that the more critical tone could be his general attitude rather than in this instance, but maybe you could have specified that in this document his tone is very admirable towards Cosimo, instead of critical.
I felt that the quote was very good for defining Cosimo's character, since Vespasiano wants to convey that Cosimo was a good man who "was more a man of deeds than of words: he always performed what he promised."
Excellent, Maria & Cayla! Between the two of you, you've successfully broken down the document & identified both literal & implied meanings.
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