The Cultural Politics of Duke Cosimo I de'Medici (review)

Reviews 233 contributors, a solid index, and a helpful bibliography. It is readable, lively and interesting, and suitable for the student, scholar, or interested amateur. Carole M. Cusack Studies in Religion University of Sydney Eisenbichler, Konrad, ed., The Cultural Politics of Duke Cosimo I de'Medici Aldershot, Ashgate, 2001; cloth; pp. xxi, 262; 19 b/w illustrations; R R P£45.00; ISBN 0754602672. As Konrad Eisenbichler observes at the opening of his introduction to this edit volume: "The [15] articles in this volume re-evaluate and present to an Englishreading public the figure of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici ...' (p. xi). Its focus is on Cosimo's political culture, with the term 'culture' being interpreted in the broadest way possible to include not only artistic and literary patronage but also political patronage and Cosimo's military and territorial ambitions. It is surprising that Duke Cosimo's cultural politics have received so little attention from Englishspeaking scholars of late Renaissance/Early M o d e m Italy and this book is all the more welcome because itfillssuccinctly such an important gap. The (unfortunately too brief) introduction provides a biography of Duke Cosimo I and then proceeds to introduce the various articles in the book and their thematic interrelationships. Broadly, thefirstthree authors (Simonetta, Hewlett and Hunt) discuss Cosimo's attempts in the early years of his rule to consolidate and extend his political control both in Tuscany and abroad, with a view to his becoming a major political player in Europe, through attempted careful territorial expansion in Tuscany (not always successful as Hewlett illustrates in the case ofLucca), the moving aside ofthe old Florentine oligarchy from positions ofinfluence as Simonetta persuasively argues, or the use ofFlorentine merchants abroad as sources ofdiplomatic information and as negotiators w h o enable Cosimo to be seen outside Italy as a political leader of import, as skilfully illustrated by Hunt. Margaret Gallucci's perceptive analysis ofCosimo's reaction to Benvenuto Cellini's appeal for clemency after his sodomy trial powerfully illustrates h o w Cosimo could on one hand be seen to be strong ruler with his tough anti-sodomy laws, yet on the other be viewed as a wise and clement one through his commutation of Cellini's sentence, which also served to send a strong message to an otherwise very difficult to control Florentine subject. 234 Reviews The theme of Cosimo's self-fashioning is strong throughout this book. The young duke's ability to learn the lessons of his Medici predecessors during his brief stay in the Medici Palace between 1537 and 1540 serves as an example of 'patronage as receptivity' while his move to the Signorial palace and later Palazzo Pitti and his patronal activity there are indicative of the active patron. Roger Crum has little surviving evidence of Cosimo's brief sojourn in the Medici Palace to work with but as he points out such lack of evidence is telling in itself of Cosimo's motives as a patron of art w h o is seeking to establish himself as a ruler. Crum's methodology is wonderfully exploitative of what material is available and reminds us of the importance of analysing the gaps and silences in the historical record. Tinagli and Gibbons then discuss the contribution of Vasari's ragionmenti and Giambologna's equestrian statues of Duke Cosimo to shoringc up his claims to hereditary and princely rule. Literary patronage and h o w Cosimo used it to further his own cultural political and economic agendas is the subject of the next three chapters with Ricci focussing on Cosimo's control of the printing industry, Watt on his appropriation of Dante and Basle's discussion of his support for the courtesan poetess, Tulia D'Aragona. All of them illustrate the intertwining of Cosimo's political and cultural agendas. Kirkham discusses this from another angle, that of a poetess's representation of Cosimo and Eleanora ofToledo, his wife. These last two articles point to Eleanora herself as a source of influence. Cosimo's setting up and control of artistic academies in Florence and his efforts to control subversive ideas are the subject of chapters 12 to 13, with the last two...