Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici

Who was Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici?

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, nicknamed the Popolano, was an Italian banker and politician, and the brother of Giovanni il Popolano. He belonged to the junior branch of the House of Medici of Florence.

Lorenzo was born in Florence, the son of Pierfrancesco de' Medici and Laudomia Acciaioli. Relations between the senior Medici branch and the younger "Popolani" branch had been tense since the 1440s, and Pierfrancesco had tried to shield his sons from the influence of the senior branch. But Lorenzo and Giovanni were still boys when their father Pierfrancesco died in 1476, and they promptly came under the tutelage of their older cousin, Lorenzo, the effective ruler of Florence. Facing financial difficulties after 1478, Lorenzo il Magnifico plundered the Popolani boys' inheritance with "forced loans". By the time they came of age, they claimed Lorenzo il Magnifico owed them over 100,000 ducats.

Nonetheless, Lorenzo il Magnifico ensured his ward obtained the best education that could be bought at the time. Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco studied under notable Florentine Renaissance humanists Marsilio Ficino, Angelo Poliziano and Giorgo Antonio Vespucci. Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco emerged with the reputation as a man of liberal views, a poet and art connoisseur in his own right.