Consilience

Cosimo, Lerenzo, and the double entry bookkeeping system Justin Hughes
10/24/07

The Medici Family made a lot impact in the Renaissance but there were three factors that came together to make one big impact. Cosimo de’ Medici, Lerenzo de’ Medici, and the double entry ledger system made a great impact.
Cosimo de’ Medici also known as Cosimo the Elder was born on September 27, 1389. He was the first of the Medici leaders. When he was born he inherited wealth and business sense from his father who was a banker. Cosimo is known to be the greatest collector of the Medic wealth. He was named the Priore of the Republic. During his reign as Priore of Florence he began to instate public charges which got him exiled from Florence. He went to Venice with his brother Lerenzo de’ Medici where they built the Medici wealth quite substantially. After a year his exile was lifted and he returned to Florence. When he returned form exile he used his power to create peace in Northern Italy by balancing the power between all of the major cities of Italy. After he died he was awarded the title of Pater Patriae which means “father of his country. Since he was the great super power of the Medici family, he was a critical part of the cultural impact.
Giovanni de Bicci de Medici is noted for the using of the double-entry bookkeeping system used be businesses even today. It is best stated as “Record keeping of organizations is based on a double-entry system, whereby each transaction is recorded on the basis of its dual impact on the organization’s financial position or operating results or both. Information relating to the financial position of an enterprise is presented on a balance sheet, while disclosures about operating results are displayed on an income statement” by Microsoft Encarta. Using this system helped the Medici family rise wealth because it helped them keep very accurate and precise ledgers of their credits and debits. This was a relatively an old system because it was developed in the 14th century and Giovanni did not start using it until he was head of the Medici Bank. Without a careful ledger of incoming and outgoing money the Medici Bank would have never grown so large or be as successful as it was.
Lorenzo de Medici was another aspect in the impact of the patronage of the Medici family. He was born January 1st 1449. He was the grandson of Cosimo and he like all of the other Medici before him was born into a wealthy family. Lorenzo was not as fortunate as Cosimo because he did not have the business sense that his grandfather had. This resulted in losses in the time he was leading the bank. Many branches of the Medici bank were put to an end because of bad loans. Also like his fellow male members of the Medici family he ruled Florentine. But his leadership was not direct. He ruled through people in the council, staged marriages, and payoffs. In addition to commissioning artists he also wrote poetry himself. It probably started with his mother on account of she was interested in art and she was also a poet.
With these two big influential people and the double entry ledger system there is no limit on how much you can change a time period and the culture of that time period. The Medici family were a long line of patrons. The concept of Patronage means one person or organization giving money or support to an individual. In most cases the Medici gave financial aid to artists. The word patron comes from the Latin word patronatus which is the relationship between the patronus (the senior member of the party) and the clientes (the lesser of the two parties involved). Even though the Medici gave money to these artists just because they like art they still got a good reputation in the art community. The Medici family did not give money to just anyone they had good taste in art. Giovanni was the first patron in the Medici family. In addition to artists the Medici also commissioned Galileo to tutor the Medici children. Among the many great artist the Medici commissioned were Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo not to mention countless others. Just think, without the help of the Medici there might have not been Leonardo’s Renaissance Man or Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel. Just think of a world without those influential paintings. The world today might be different. The greatest impact of the end result of all of these aspects coming together, which is patronage, is probably Renaissance art. Art during the Renaissance might have not been as grand without the money given to theses artists. Without money artists can not paint. Art during the renaissance made people in paintings more real. Artists in this time gave them real features like muscles and wrinkles. Without Cosimo the Medici would not have as much money to patronize artists. They would not have as many works of art attributed to them. Without the double entry bookkeeping system the Medici would have never taken very good ledgers and they would have not made as much money so they could not commission so many artists. In a nutshell Renaissance art would have not been as influential.