Lorenzo de’ Medici
(1449 - 1492)
More poet than banker by inclination, “Lorenzo the Magnificent,” the spendthrift heir of the Medici fortune, subsidized the early efforts of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Considered the most brilliant of the Medici rulers, the statesman, ruler, and patron of the arts Lorenzo de’ Medici ruled Florence with his younger brother Giuliano from 1469 to 1478 and, after the latter’s assassination, was sole ruler from 1478 to 1492.